


The Seed of the King

by JannKenneth



Category: Original Work
Genre: Action/Adventure, Daddy Kink, Forbidden Love, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Threesome - M/M/M, Underage Sex, Virtual Reality
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-22
Packaged: 2019-10-23 23:11:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 8
Words: 31,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17692940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JannKenneth/pseuds/JannKenneth
Summary: Crystal Utopia - A virtual world that offers many things. It offers new life, new chances, new adventures and new experiences. It opens your world to a new new dimensions of possibilities. But does it really have a room for everything?How does a middle-aged widower like Henry Carmichael fit in all of this? Desperation plagues the poor broken man as he seeks for someone in this virtual world. Will he be able to find what he was looking for? Can he make it in time?





	1. Classless

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer:  
> This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to real life event is purely coincidence. This story contains violence, non-consensual sex and involves an underage character. This story can get pretty dark story, maybe in the future, so be warned.
> 
> Additional Disclaimer:  
> I am new to writing and English is not my first language, so please be kind.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life is cruel to everyone. And that is what makes life fair.
> 
> There is no exception. Rich or poor. Young or old. Everyone is at the mercy of what life serves them.
> 
> How can Isaac deal with the cards he was dealt? Run from it, of course.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to real life event is purely coincidence. This story contains violence, non-consensual sex and involves an underage character. This story can get pretty dark story, maybe in the future, so be warned.

"Same time again tonight?" Liam asks but it sounded more like a statement.  
   
"Actually, I can't." Isaac answered, almost regretfully. It is as though he is afraid to say those words and at the same time, sad to say them.  
   
"What? You're sucking another dick now?" Liam spat angrily. His voice echoing in that empty alleyway.  
   
"No, no. I just, I died last night and I can't log in for 48 hours." Isaac announced.  
   
"What?!?! Didn't I told you not to go outside the city and get yourself killed?"  
   
"Sorry, I-I was just..."  
   
"I-I-I just..." Liam repeated in a mocking voice. "What got into your head? Why can’t you be obedient for once? I was only in the city for a one week. Then I will be out for a mission again for a month at least. You did know that I used my teleportation scroll to get to the city as soon as I can, right? And you know how expensive those are.” Liam remarked angrily. Blaming poor Isaac for what is happening. Isaac remained silent as he was already feeling guilty as it was. And Liam’s words just make it abundantly clear that this is truly his fault.  
   
“Now, by the time your penalty will be lifted I'll be long gone. How am I supposed to get off now?" Liam announced. If they weren't alone, he wouldn't have the balls to say these words aloud.  
   
"I didn't know."  
   
"Of course, you didn't know. God, you're stupid sometimes, you know that?" Liam spat angrily.  
   
"Sorry." Isaac replies in low voice.  
   
"Shailene wouldn't put out because she thinks she's some sort of a saint. And now the cock whore who basically begged to suck my dick won't be available to help me with my problem."  
   
"I'm really sorry." Isaac starts to say. An idea came into his mind and before he knows it he had said it out loud. "But I am free tonight. We could... ummm..." Isaac starts to stutter as he recognized the look of anger and disgust in Liam's face.  
   
"We could what? You think that because you had been swinging on my virtual cock, you could swing on the real one. Keep on dreaming buddy. I ain't no faggot." Liam replies laughing as he walks away.  
   
Isaac's face turned crimson. It wasn't what he thought. Or maybe it was. He had been servicing the guy in the virtual world for the past 2 months now. That is equivalent to more than a year in the virtual world.  
   
"Send me a PM once you finally wake up from La-La-Land." Liam added before he turned when he the reached the end of the alley.  
   
Isaac wanted to cry. He couldn't deny that he is a hopeless romantic. But he is smart enough to know that Liam, the popular jock in campus, will not fall in love with him. But at the very least, he thought that they had become friends after all the time they spent together. After all those secret rendez vouz in the virtual world, he expects at least a friendship. Is that too much to ask? Maybe it was mostly wishful thinking on his part, he knows that now.  
   
Now, as he stood in that empty alleyway alone, he realized something. Like the first day they met in the virtual world, Liam still thinks of him as the mouth that gives him the relief his girlfriend refuses to give. He doesn't care who the mouth was connected to or that the mouth is connected to a gay guy, as long as he gets to find the relief that he is deprived of in the real world.  
   
Isaac is not dumb. He is the smartest in his class. He may be a freshman in high school but he is smarter than Liam and probably more than half of the junior class in their high school. If the grades Liam is getting from the assignments that Isaac has been doing is an indication, then Isaac could be one of the smartest students even in the junior class. But alas, that is not enough to save him from the puppy love he has on Liam. Despite the junior jock’s repulsive attitude, the guy is dashingly handsome – chiseled jaws, piercing blue eyes, smoldering grimace and a body to die for. Compared to that, Isaac is a nobody.  
   
He took a deep breath before he left that empty alleyway, walked back into the main street and headed straight home. He thought his emotional feat is already over but once he reached his room, his eyes start to betray him again. He feels so stupid that he believed something will happen between him and Liam. Maybe he had been watching too much high school romantic comedy movies. His life is not a movie, he knows that now. But the knowledge alone feels like a knife stabbed into his heart. Liam is holding the handle and instead of saying sorry, Liam is twisting the knife around, making Isaac beg for mercy or death.  
   
He knew he had to get out of this somehow. He had to get away from Liam’s grasp. This pain he is feeling opens his eyes that maybe this is not worth it. Although something inside him yearns for more, he knows he will never get it. And now, while his mind is clear, he decides that he will get away from Liam. He have to stop Liam from breaking his heart slowly and mercilessly. He has to break his own heart so it can start healing sooner.  
   
The next day, life went forward as if it doesn’t care how Isaac feels so miserable. He went to school and it went as uneventful as usual. He had to avoid Liam which is nothing new to him but this time he is doing it not just because Liam wants him to keep his distance, but also because he doesn’t want to see Liam. He is afraid that if he sees Liam that day, he will fall back in love with him and the whole drama and ‘enlightenment’ he went through will be pointless.  
   
The day after that, was also as uneventful as the previous one. He came home that day and as he looks at the virtual machine in his room, he realized that the machine only reminds him of Liam. He remembers how he feels inside that virtual world. There he can physically feel his yearning towards Liam. He can feel the carving run in his body. His mind more focused on getting that craving satisfied. And now, his mind is clearer in the real world than it ever was in the virtual world. It is strange but true. He read somewhere that games, even the non-virtual ones, bring out the deeper emotions and wants an individual has. It brings out a person’s true colors. The anonymity in the game helps one rid himself of all the guilt.  
   
He gazes at the virtual game capsule. He remembers how it did rid himself of the shame of what he was doing. It all started three months ago, when he begged his father and mother to buy him one.  
   
Three months ago, Isaac overheard Liam talking to his buddies about the virtual game – The Crystal Utopia. They were talking about how the virtual world of Crystal Utopia feels so realistic. One Liam’s friends even mentioned that even sex in that world feels so real. And the whole group laughed at him. The conversation somehow goes into how having sex in the virtual world is technically not cheating. And that is when Isaac hears Liam say the words that echoes in his heart for a long time.  
   
“Guys, you know how Shailene is sexy and all that, right? But damn. That girl could not suck for her life.” Liam admits to his friends.  
   
“You mean she sucks at sucking.” One of his dear friend, a senior named Carter adds with a chuckle. Everyone laughed at that witty statement of irony.  
   
“Ha Ha.” Liam adds, not laughing with the rest. “ But damn, what I really wish for is a very good blowjob that blows my mind.” Liam remarked.  
   
“You don’t need a mind-blowing blowjob man. You just need a blowjob.” One of his friends remarked quickly. And Liam just nods in response, chuckling.  
   
“Yeah, a blowjob from anyone.” Liam affirms. “Wanna give me one?” he says to Carter with a chuckle.  
   
“Ha Ha. Fuck you Liam.” Carter responds.  
   
“Oh, there are plenty of fucks in the World of Crystal Utopia.” One of them remarks. “You should join. And invite your brother, Elliot was it?”  
   
“Nah… I don’t know man. Maybe. Video games are just so lame.” Carter responds before the rest of his friends playfully dunk his head down.  
   
That was the last of what Isaac heard before the group walks away laughing. But it was certainly enough to get Isaac thinking. So that evening, Isaac talked to his parents. His parents were skeptical, but he knows them. He knows them too well. He just promised them that his grades won’t be affected and even manages to convince them that studying in the virtual world is so much better. Time works differently there after all. They said yes, of course. His parents are not billion-dollars rich but they are well off, so two weeks later, the virtual machine sits in his room ready for him to use.  
   
Next step of his plan is to tell Liam about his proposal. He actually did not believe he can do it. But somehow, he managed to. One afternoon, Liam was the last one in the locker room after practice. Isaac is no stalker but he was that afternoon. With sweaty hands and shaking knees, he approached the half-naked jock in the locker.  
   
“What is the matter faggot? Are you lost?” Liam laughed aloud. “Right?” He says as he turns to his friend before he realized that he is alone. “What do you want?” he asks sharply.  
   
“I want to suck your cock.” Isaac managed to say in a stern voice. He was afraid his voice would crack if he says anything more.  
   
“Is this some kind of a joke?” Liam says chuckling. “Am I being videotaped now?” he asks as his gaze surveys the room. “Come out now guys, I know this is a prank. This is not funny though. Ha Ha.” He adds as he slips into his fresh clean shirt.  
   
“I am serious. This is not a prank.” Isaac replies. Liam turns to him with an angered look.  
   
“Do you want to die, fag? You think I am a faggot like you? Fuck you.” Liam announced angrily as he balls his hands into a fist. His knuckles whiten with anger.  
   
“No. I know you are not.” Isaac quickly answers. His stern voice is now fading, giving away his fear and hesitation. “I just…”  
   
“What?”  
   
“I want to suck your cock in the virtual world. It is not cheating. It… It do-doesn’t count.” Isaac offers. As if adding the cheating part is important.  
   
Liam just chuckles at his words. “You know what, I will let you suck my cock.” Isaac looks shocked at those words but just before his face breaks into a smile, Liam pulled the rag under his feet, metaphorically of course. “I will let you do it, when hell freezes over.” The junior jock spat.  
   
Isaac remained silent at those words. “Now, stop wasting my time and don’t come near me again.” Liam announced as he picks up his gym bag and walks away. But not before intentionally bumping into Isaac, sending the shocked boy to the floor. Liam laughs as he walks away.  
   
Isaac felt so stupid for thinking that his plan would work. He realized that he should have asked Liam first before making his parents buy him the virtual machine. Or better yet, he shouldn’t have asked Liam at all.  
   
As he stares at the virtual machine that night, he starts thinking about how the virtual game capsule can still be useful. He could still use it to study. That way, technically, he did not lie to his parents. Shrugging off his shoulders, he plugged the machine and got inside it. The machine looks almost too futuristic, but it is supposed to look that way, right?  
   
He logged on and started making his character appearance. He chose an appearance just like his own, but with some modifications. For starters, he added a few inches on his height, he chose a light blue color for his hair and he ‘improved’ his looks a bit.  
   
He was shocked to find that there are customization options with his virtual character’s intimate parts. He reluctantly adds a few inches on his member and he made his already big ass a bit bigger. He chuckles to himself as he looks at his virtual self. He doesn’t look like a completely different version of himself. He looks more like an improved version of himself. He chuckles as he approves the appearance. If he is going to play this game, he should at least look good in it, right?  
   
He then choses a starting city – Rosenburg City. A small city in the virtual world that he overheard Liam mention one time. Maybe, somehow, deep inside him, he still hopes to bump into Liam there. He spent the whole time in Rosenburg studying for an upcoming exam the next day. He aced that exam. If he had studied in the real world, he would have spent 4 to 5 hours on it. But in the virtual world, he studied for almost two days and he even procrastinated a bit.  
   
A week passed as Isaac has been using Crystal Utopia as his studying place, his very own library, if you will. And he feels so accomplished. He had studied so much that he feels like he can take the final exam and pass it, even before the teachers had time to discuss a topic. It was truly a blessing to him. At night he doesn’t have to go to bed, he goes to the virtual world and spend days before he logs off and go to school. He even feels well rested and no terrible side effect whatsoever. His life is getting a routine that he starts to love. Just then, he opens his locker and finds a note inside it.  
   
“Janitor’s Closet. 3PM.” The note says. And it was signed “LC”. Isaac minds raced with so many thoughts as he could only think of one person with that initials – Liam Cardin. When the clock strikes 3PM, he excused himself from his chemistry class and made his way into the janitor’s closet. As he opens the door, he sees the ever-gorgeous Liam inside and against his will, Isaac’s heart is jumping in his chest and his mind is going hundred miles a minute with thoughts. Dirty thoughts of what might happen. Thoughts that is having that expected and unwelcomed effect on him.  
   
“Come in and lock the door.” The junior jock quickly says with a sharp but whispered voice. Isaac quickly gets inside the closet and close the door behind him.  
   
“Hi.” Isaac says. He couldn’t help but blush at the dirty thoughts that kept coming in his head at that moment.  
   
“Shut up faggot.” Liam quickly remarked, shattering the romantic “Romeo-and-Juliet”-like illusion Isaac put up for the scene before him. “Are you playing The Crystal Utopia?” Liam asked straight to the point.  
   
Isaac nods, not trusting his voice.  
   
“What level are you? And what city?” Liam asked.  
   
“Level 5. Rosenburg City.” Isaac asked.  
   
Liam looked shocked and almost judging when he heard Isaac’s level. But he did not comment on it. “Perfect. Tonight, meet me in Keeper’s Inn, Room 109. Knock three times. Okay?”  
   
Isaac nods. Liam just smirks before he shoves Isaac to the side, leaving the janitor’s closet without any more words. Isaac sat there for a minute, grinning like a stupid idiot. He doesn’t want to expect much but his mind can just imagine what is going to happen in that inn that night. And that night it did happen.  
   
Keeper’s Inn. Room 109.  
   
“Fuck. That was amazing.” Liam announced, lying in bed and panting after the biggest orgasm of his life. He does not care that it was given to him by an inexperience faggot. Isaac is coughing hard beside him. Liam was rough. Liam did not care about him or his welfare. Liam felt so used and yet happy.  
   
It started so romantic for him. For him it was like opening a Christmas present and realizing that it was the same gift that you have been wishing for the whole year. In the virtual world, it was like the real world. Liam is a Level 46 Warrior and Isaac is a Level 5 Classless. But that is what makes it hotter for Isaac.  
   
As he pulls Liam’s boxers down and the warrior’s cock came into view, Isaac almost came. He felt his throat dry up in anticipation. It was just like one his fantasies, yet it felt more intense, more real and more satisfying. Just like the rest of Liam, his cock is perfect, smooth, fat and long. The mushroom head looks big and plump. The shaft is curved downwards to the right. It was only for a few seconds, but Isaac did his best to memorize Liam’s cock. That moment, Isaac wondered if Liam’s real cock looked the same, or if Liam added a few inches or maybe a bit of girth into it. Later Liam would confirm the latter but Isaac did not care and will not care.  
   
It may be a romantic amazing moment for Isaac but it was just an excruciating wait for Liam. And wasting no more precious seconds, the eager boy asked Isaac to open his mouth. Isaac opened his mouth to asked why but his words did not make it out before Liam’s throbbing member occupies the younger teen’s mouth. Isaac was shocked but Liam just smirks and moans. Sliding more of his cock inside, pushing past the younger teen’s throat and starts fucking it. Isaac is choking and gagging. His face reddens as he could not breath properly. But Liam did not care. The eager warrior grabs Isaac’s blue hair and used it as handle as he thrusts his cock in and out. Liam has only one goal, reach his orgasm. He could not believe how a warm mouth feels around his cock, how amazing a tight throat can be and how much pleasure a blowjob can make him feel.  
   
While Liam is in his blissful world of exploring Isaac’s throat with his throbbing member, Isaac struggles to breathe. With each thrust, he could feel his throat stretch. Every thrust he fears that his throat with break or his mouth will tear open. He is panicking, but at the same time, something tingles inside him. He feels violated, used but somehow it feels great too. He hates that it feels great too. His mind keeps telling him how he is currently choking on his ultimate crush’s cock and his heart just jumps for joy even as he hates the idea of it all.  
   
And in no time, Liam starts shooting inside Isaac’s throat, not even asking I the younger teen wants to swallow. Pushing his cock so deep inside Isaac’s throat that Isaac felt like he is going to pass out without air. Liam feels the same way but because of the intense pleasure of his own orgasm.  
   
And so Liam, lays panting, satisfied and eager. Arms spread like the wings of an eagle as he marvels at the joys of his first proper blowjob. He is smiling to himself as he hears Isaac coughing and gagging beside him. “Oh, don’t be such a drama queen. I thought you wanted this.” Liam chuckles. He felt powerful somehow. He can hear Isaac’s voice that afternoon in the locker room. He can her the younger teen beg for his cock. Then he sees his girlfriend face cringe at his request of a blowjob.  
   
“I-I do. But...” Isaac answers between coughs.  
   
“What? You want me to go slow and gentle? This is no love story faggot. You want to suck my cock? Then this is the only way you are going to get it. So, leave now if you can’t take it.” Liam adds smirking. He feels so powerful now. As he looks at the younger teens face, he knew. He knew that he just won the lottery jackpot.  
   
“Sorry.” Isaac answers feeling embarrassed. He remembered that he did beg the junior jock for this.  
   
“Good, now do it again. But this time, I won’t be helping you. I want to see you choke on my cock on your own.” Liam says with a chuckle. Isaac was shocked at the request. But as he looked at the gorgeous face of the Level 46 warrior, he realized how lucky he was for having this opportunity. Even as his mind tries to tell him to get out now, his heart kept begging him for more. Something from the puts of his stomach aches for more. And that night, Liam came two more times inside Isaac’s throat, marking the start of their virtual world escapades.  
   
Isaac continues to stare at the virtual game capsule. He knows that he should get rid of the machine as soon as he can. That machine is the only string attaching him to Liam, and he doesn’t want to get back into that mess again.  
   
But somehow, he feels the need to log on one last time. He remembers the freedom he felt in the virtual world. He remembers the fun he had there. Well, it was fun while it was happening but now that he thinks about it, it is not supposed to be fun for him. Yet, he can still feel that same tingling inside. It feels like an addiction to him now. And despite feeling humiliated and used, he feels happier there somehow. And if he has to say goodbye to that feeling, one last time wouldn’t hurt.  
   
He took a deep breath. ‘One last time.’ He told himself before he presses the power button of the virtual game capsule. The capsule opened up and the inside lights up. Isaac got inside and closed his eyes as the capsule starts to close.  
   
Welcome to Crystal Utopia. That familiar voice announced.


	2. Welcome to Crystal Utopia.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Life can be cruel sometimes. You build your life and make a family. You do your best and love as much as you can. But when life decides to pull the rag off your feet, can you really stand back up?
> 
> Henry intends to do that. Will life let him though?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to real life event is purely coincidence. This story contains violence, non-consensual sex and involves an underage character. This story can get pretty dark story, maybe in the future, so be warned.

_Connecting....._

_Welcome to Crystal Utopia._

_A thousand years ago, a God descended from the Heavens..._

"Skip."

_A dark force lurks..._

"Skip."

_A power born from light and darkn…_

"Skip."

_Now a thousand years later, the time has..._

"Skip."

'How long does this stupid introduce take?' Henry thought.

_R..._

"Skip."

_A..._

"Skip."

_Heav…_

"Skip."

_Now is..._

"Skip."

_Please customize your appe…_

“Skip.”

_Are you su…_

“Yes.”

_What shall be your name?_

"Carmichael"

_Carmichael, welcome to Crystal Utopia. Choose a city to start your adventure in._

"Barinheim."

_Sorry, new players can't start at Barinheim City. The city has a minimum requirement of level 150. Choose a city to start your adventure in._

'What? How am I supposed to see my son in Barinheim.' Henry Carmichael mentally exclaims in frustration.

Almost two years ago, his wife and his son got into an accident. Lucas, his son, barely survived with a punctured lung, 3 broken ribs, a fractured leg and worst of all, severe head trauma that almost left him in a vegetative state. The doctors say that his son was lucky to survive that horrible accident. They say that being as young as Lucas is and suffering so much damage, his son should have died. His wife however wasn't as lucky. She took most of the damage of the impact and died on the spot.

After five major operations, almost 48 hours in total, Lucas' condition finally stabilized. Weeks later, his body is healing in a faster pace than the doctors initially anticipated. But he remained unconscious. Almost two months later, Lucas is in perfect health except he is still not conscious. Doctor remained clueless as to when, if ever, he will wake up. Another month, and Henry was advised to bring his son home.

Before leaving though, a doctor gave him an off-the-record advice - to hook his son into one of those gaming capsules that will send him into the virtual world. He said that the virtual world might be able to stimulate his son’s brain to wake up. He said that some of his colleagues suggested the same but the hospital did not approve of such unorthodox and untested treatment, especially with the virtual game being new and untested.

Henry was hopeful though, so with the last of his savings, he bought a gaming capsule. It costs him a fortune but nothing Henry can't sacrifice to have his son back. The first time it was hooked into his son, Henry found hope. He saw his son's eyes starts to move around and hand move a little. But it just that, eye movements and a slight twitch of a finger. Henry would have loved to buy himself another one of those virtual game capsules so he could join his son and maybe wake him from his sleep, but with all the maintenance he had to pay for his son's health, he got nothing to spare.

That was until a week ago, when he finally received a call from his wife's insurance company. Almost two years after the accident, the insurance company finally processed all the paper works. So, he bought another game capsule for himself.

He searched the web on ways to track a player and apparently there is no in game feature to do that. There is the in-game messaging system but it can only be used between players who are ‘Friends’ in game. And he can’t send his son a friend invitation because he doesn’t know what his son’s character name is in-game. There is always the old way of doing it like asking people around but that would take so much time. So, he is left with one option, Crystal Utopia online market. More specifically the service section of the gaming website.

There, Henry found a tracker, apparently a gamer with an occupation of treasure hunter who has a rare skill on tracking. A high-level player who the other players pay to track the location of certain quest items and he can give them a general map of where to find it. The player is so used to being ask for location of treasures and quest items that when Henry asked him to track a player, he was shocked. No one ever had that kind of request, and he must have thought that Henry is some kind of stalker. But luckily, the tracker believed it is none of his business and for a small real-world cash, he is willing to accept the request. So, after giving the guy his son’s virtual machine capsule number and a week to do his tracking, the guy finally got something for him – a character named Raven and Barinheim City. He doesn’t even know if the character named Raven is his son or just someone who knows his son. And the city of Barinheim is just a current location which can change if his son plans to move. But none of that matters now because apparently, he can't start there because of the stupid restriction.

'Now is not the time to give up. I barely started yet and this is for my son. Even if I'd have to walk a million miles to see him again, I'd do it in a heartbeat.'

"Bring me to the nearest starting point from Barinheim City." Henry finally answered.

_As you wish, transporting to Rosenburg City..._

It was followed by bright light and in just a blink of an eye, he was transported into the middle of a busy town square. It was like being in the middle of a flea market. Everyone is busy, either buying something, selling something or shouting something that Henry can't quite figure out. Everything seemed real. The virtual world of Utopia, the first ever virtual world and as of the present, the one and only.

Every person he sees looked realistic. Henry can feel the coolness of the wind as it blows, the heat from the searing sun in the afternoon light and the pleasantly welcomed breath of fresh air.

"For sale: Rabbit Meat, low price. Negotiable."

"Priest Level 25. Needs party."

"Looking for durable sword at low price."

"Looking for party member."

Henry's amazement and tranced state was immediately cut by the loud shouting of players in the town square. Now that he is out of the stunned look of wonderment, his mind can now see the clearer goal.

Henry did intensive research before joining the game, though not in the combat meta that other new players would study on. He searched more about tracking other players, specifically his son. First, he learned that he needs a map to know where places are, as a normal person born before the age of internet and google maps, he is quite familiar with tangible maps. Next, he realized that being a treasure hunter would make it easier for him to search for his son. And lastly, he needs to level up fast so that he can enter the City of Barinheim.

So, for his first objective, Henry headed for the map merchant. Though the town square is full of food stalls, equipment stalls, potion stall and other types of stalls run by players and NPCs alike, the map merchants are not in the town square. Usually they are located near city or town entrances which is convenient because Henry plans to leave the city as quickly as possible. Henry made his way out of the busy town square to look for a map merchant.

Though given that he currently has no map yet, searching for the merchant is quite an easy task. Just a few minutes of wandering, Henry found himself in front of the city gates and alas a map merchant.

"Good Day! Welcome to my humble shop. How may I help you?" the shop owner quickly announced as Henry approached his stall.

"Hi, do you have a map for the whole continent?" Henry asks as his eyes wander around the display behind the map merchant. There are display of maps on the wall, one even looks like a pirate treasure map, you know the one with a red X mark for the treasure.

"Oh, kind Sir, I'm very sorry. My shop is but a tiny one. Rosenburg is nothing but a small city. Maps that size can be purchased at map shops of big cities, not her unfortunately" the shop owner regretfully answered.

Henry couldn't help but look disappointed. The beginner's guide website for Crystal Utopia said that maps are available at map shops but it did not mention that not all maps are available at certain shops.

"We do have maps at a slightly larger scale. I have a map for the City of Rosenburg and its nearby cities." the shop owner offered, clearly hoping that the customer would buy that. Crystal Utopia is amazing like that. NPCs have personalities, desires and are almost like players. It was possible because of an AI algorithm created by the Neptune corporation. It is also the reason why other companies couldn't create a virtual game like Crystal Utopia. Without the high definition graphics, the realistic feel of the game and most of all the human-like intelligence of the NPCs, their version will just be shunned as a cheap Crystal Utopia knock-off.

"Do you have a map from the City of Rosenburg to the City of Barinheim?" Henry asked hopefully.

"I think I do." the shop owner announced. "Let me check." Henry waited eagerly as the shop owner browsed the big catalog of maps in the shelf behind the counter. Once he has the map, he can then leave the city and head for the City of Barinheim.

"Oh, I found it." the shop owner announced as he pulled a very old map from the backmost portion of his catalog. "Though it was created years ago, I doubt there will be changes in the topography, right?" the he tried to joke, which merited nothing but an unchanged excited grin from Henry.

"Great."

"Would that be all?" the shop owner asks as politely as he could. He can almost hear the sound of the silver coins.

"Yes, that would be all." Henry answered enthusiastically.

"That would be 150 silvers."

"What?!" Henry replied surprised. Henry knew through nights of research that common maps are priced from 5 silver coins to 500 silver coins. But he just figured that a map from his city to Barinheim might be expensive but not 150 silver coins expensive. At the start of the game players are rewarded with 25 silver coins which they can use however they want. But it is not even close to the 150 silver coins that the map merchant demands.

"What's wrong? Can't afford it?" the shop owner asked bluntly and seemingly annoyed.

"Yeah, sorry. It's just too expensive." Henry answered sheepishly.

"Yeah, maps are usually cheap, but for a map this scale from a small shop in a small city, I'm afraid the higher price is expected." the shop owner answered less annoyed. The situation made him realize something about his profession. "So how much can you afford?" the shop owner asked politely again, willing to bargain for a cheaper price but certainly not as low as Henry could afford.

"How about 25 silver?" Henry asked hopingly which based on the shrewd face means a No.

"Are you kidding me? You think that being a map vendor is a joke?" the shop owner shouted angrily. "Go away. You're attracting bad fortune to my shop. And if you think that I would be stupid to let you insult me in the face..."

Henry did not wait to hear the rest of it as he stepped away from the map stall. Henry realizes that if he really needs the map, he would have to do quests to earn enough silver coins to buy the map.

*BAM* One second Henry is walking away from the angry map merchant and another he is on the ground with a complete stranger.

"Sorry." the young guy beside him says with a smile. This guy just came out of nowhere and bumped into Henry, bringing the two of them on the ground. The guy quickly stood up, winked at him and without saying anything more continued running. Henry, on the other hand, sighs at his misfortune, tries to stand up and notices three or four other people running after the guy. One is even shouting "Get the thief."

'Were they players? Probably.' Henry thought as he wipes his dirty hands on his pants. In this virtual game, players and NPCs are so much alike that one can't distinguish the two easily. Unless the player wants to be known, it is almost impossible to determine. There are ways to know of course but it would need keen observation and requires time.

After getting up, Henry realizes that he is hungry, which is weird because he is in a virtual game but he felt like he really is hungry. Amazing how quickly human technology advances when ten years ago, a realistic virtual game like this is nothing but a fantasy.

"Inventory." he announced. A pop-up window appears showing him the contents of his pocket - which of course is empty except the 25 silver coins every new player starts with in the game.

'Great. Should I buy food?' he asks himself. His stomach growls answering his question. Another few minutes of walk, he found himself in the middle of the town square once again.

"Scallops. Fresh Scallops, as cheap as 45 copper"

"Grilled Rabbit Meat. Preserved for a month just 2 silvers."

"Apples. Fresh apples, just 20 copper each. It's a bargain."

Players shout one after another. The food displayed in their makeshift stalls looks stunningly delicious. Henry hears his stomach growl again. Some stalls have long line of players in them, some don't but with the announced prices, it seems Henry would have to find the cheapest possible food item to save money for the map.

"Hello, how may I help you?" one food stall owner asks.

"Oh. Hi. Uhmmmm, what do you have?" Henry answered tentatively.

"Well, I have food items ranging from the most exotic cuisine to... Oh." the shop owner abruptly stops as if he just realized something. "New player?" the stall owner asks.

"Yes. Actually, I just joined the game today." Henry replies with a smile. “How did…?” he asks shocked how the guy quickly recognizes that he is a new player.

"Welcome to the game. I'm Aaron." the stall owner replies. “And it is because your name is still flashing on your head, which means you still haven’t enabled the privacy setting of your virtual character.”

“What?” Henry asks confused.

“Carmichael?” Aaron asks with a confused smile. “Is that your real name?” he asks chuckling.

“Actually, it is.” Henry answers embarrassed. In a hurry earlier, he did not even think about creating a good name for his character. But then again, he thought he won’t have to play for more than a week in this virtual game. He expected to be in Barinheim and find his son in no time. So, why would the character name matter, right?

"Call me Henry, by the way. Nice to meet you." Henry adds.

“Nice to meet you too. And if you want to remove your name that is flashing over your head, well, I can help you with that. Just open setting, then go to privacy setting and check the keep my character information private checkbox.” Aaron instructs.

“Oh, thanks.” Henry answers. “Open settings.”

A pop-up window appears before him. Of course, Aaron can not see the window, only the users can see this in-game windows. But other users can see it if the user chooses to, if they are friends or if they are in a party.

Henry sees the checkbox Aaron was talking about and he ticked the box off. He closed the window and turned to Aaron. “Thank you.” He says, feeling grateful the guy.

“Well, no worries. The first time I played this game, I have been walking around with my name over my head up until I was Level 27. Imagine how noob I looked.” Aaron laughed at that. Henry just looked at him confused. Not sure why having your name over your head is a noob thing.

"Anyway, with that out of the way, it is business time Seeing that you are a new player, I have apples and wheat bread. They're not as good as other food here but it's good enough. And it's cheap."

"Great. I'm afraid I don't have much. That would be great."

"I know how tough it is for new players. So just for this time, I'll sell the apples at 10 copper and the wheat bread at 20. Usually they're twice the price. But we, players must stick together, don't you think so?" Aaron announced, being a bit too friendly that it makes Henry a bit cautious.

"Thank you very much. I'd have the apples." Henry answered thankful for the kind gesture.

"How many?" Aaron asks.

'10 copper per apple. Aaron's generosity is a rare opportunity. So, I should buy as many as I could.' Henry thought.

"How about a hundred." Henry answered gleefully.

"No... No... No..." Aaron answered with a laugh. Henry is confused. "You do know that apples expire after a week. You can't eat a hundred apples within a week. Come on man. Didn't you do some research?" Aaron laughed mockingly.

"Well, I did. But I think not intensively enough." Henry replies a bit ashamed. He had played many role-playing games before. He was a kid once, after all. But for all those games food items never rot nor expire. He thought it would be the same for this game. He thought his knowledge from his gaming days before would get him by, now he knows that rules are different for this virtual game.

"No shit, man." Aaron replies chuckling. He is openly mocking Henry but in a friendly way almost. "Apples expire within a week.  Wheat bread expire within a month. That's just how it is. So, you can stock up food for until one month, nothing more. But no worries, by that time I can assure you, you can afford for more food."

"Well, I suppose."

"I suggest, you buy a week worth of apples and three weeks’ worth of wheat bread."

"Okay. How much would that be?" Henry asks, agreeing with Aaron’s logic.

"Well, a week of apples is worth 210 copper and 3 weeks of wheat bread is 1260 copper. So that's 14 silver and 70 copper." Aaron replies.

"That's fast math." Henry replies amazed.

"Well, I'm good at math." Aaron replies jokingly.

"Okay, I'll have that." Henry replies thankful but pained to see he's getting further away from the 150 silver coins that he needs to buy the map. He hands Aaron 15 silver coins which is enough for his purchase.

"Do you have a bag?" Aaron asks.

"No." Henry replies confused. What does he mean by a bag? Can’t it fit in his inventory?

"Oh, new player, right. Well, I'm afraid your purchase can't fit in your pocket inventory. But I have an extra bag with me. How about I give it to you as a welcome to the game present." Aaron adds with a grin.

"You're serious?" Henry asked surprise. Now more cautious with the friendly man.

"Of course." Aaron replies. "It's a beginner's back. It has a good amount of space, twice its size. Though it doesn't have a weight reduction bonus."

"That's okay. Are you really serious?" Henry asked, shocked by Aaron's kindness.

"I am. I just got my new back pack earlier today and was planning to sell my old one. But clearly you need it and I believe that a small act of kindness can go a long way." Aaron explained.

"Thank you very much." Henry replies.

"No worries, man. Here." Aaron says as he hands Henry the backpack. It looks full which it should be taking into account that it contains a month worth of food items. "And here's your change." Aaron says as he hands Henry his 30-copper coin change.

"Thank you." Henry says.

"No problem. Pass it forward when you can."

"Oh, I will." Henry answers, a bit hesitant still.

"And come again." Aaron adds.

"I will." Henry says with a smile.

And with that Henry left the stall having made a new “creepily-friendly” friend and a good purchase of food items that can help him get by for a month. Well that also means he is down 12 silver and 70 copper coins and little further away from the 150 silver coins for the map. He picked an apple from his bag and took a bite as he tries to figure out what to do next.


	3. Collision Course

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When a man cursed by fate means a broken-hearted teenager in desperate need of help, what does one get?
> 
> Chaos and mayhem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to real life event is purely coincidence. This story contains violence, non-consensual sex and involves an underage character. This story can get pretty dark story, maybe in the future, so be warned.

After a hearty meal of another apple for the sixth day in a row, Henry is so sick of eating apples. But there is one thing he is excited about, after the seventh day, all his apple supply will be gone and he will graduate into the wheat bread. It is not a big upgrade by any way, but it is a much-welcomed change.

Henry had been in the City for six days now. He has been working his ass for doing some menial tasks from the locals. He worked as an errand boy for the butcher shop. That was weird because the butcher looked to be about his age and even made fun of him for working as an errand boy. Sometimes NPCs are just mean, and Henry realized that they don’t want to be called as NPCs either.

He also worked as a messenger, delivery boy, shop attendant for a day, bartender in a bar and any other work he can get from the town. He felt like he is working his ass off and managed to earn some, which is not much to be honest. He now has 49 silver and 73 copper coins, almost 50 silver coins, which is a long way to go for the 150 silver coins that the map vendor wants for the map that Henry needs. He could have saved more if he doesn’t have to pay for the inn that he needs to sleep in each night. He tried sleeping on the street once but the next day, he got a cold and his stamina kept going down and he is finding it harder to find a job. A day wasted just because he decides to save money and not sleep in an inn.

That night he just finished his shift in the local bar and is heading home when he saw five figures in a town alley. One of the figures seemed to be not part of the group as he seemed cornered and helpless. He planned to mind his own business. He doesn’t want to involve himself with the business of other players. He is in this game to find his son, nothing else. He continued walking towards the five figures, because that is the only way towards the cheapest inn in the city. It leaves him with no other choice.

“Come on, boy. Don’t be shy.” One of the four guys announced in a cocky tone. All five of them looked young. Four of them look to be in their early twenties or maybe even younger, but the cornered one looked to be much younger, maybe around age 14. Judging by the armor the four guys are sporting, Henry can tell that they are higher levels, maybe around Level 50 or more. The poor cornered teen, on the other hand, looked like a low-level character. Henry is not one hundred percent sure if all of them are players but, if he has to venture a guess, he’d say that yes, they are.

He passed the five guys and would have continued walking and minding his own business, if only his eyes did not meet with the cornered teen’s eyes. He can see the teens’ blue hair shining under the light of the moon. The boy looked scared, and his eyes displays the terror he is feeling. He looked helpless and powerless. And Henry can only imagine what the other four guys plans to do to him.

“Is there something wrong guys?” Henry asked against his better judgment. He is no expert in this game. In fact, he is only a Level 7 player, even after 6 days in this virtual world. He still has no class because he chose not to get one. He knows that classes can be chosen at Level 10, but he also knows that Treasure hunter profession can only be chosen at Level 25.

“We were just asking this young man to do us a favor.” One of the guys say.

“Mind your own business, old man.” Another one adds. The other two laugh at his choice of words.

“Shut up guys, we don’t want to anger the NPC.” The first guy announced.

Henry turned to the cornered teen who looks at him still afraid. He can see the fear in the poor kid’s eyes, and it seems that the kid is asking him to run.

“Well, I don’t think that this poor kid wants to do you the favor. So, please go and ask someone else.” Henry offers again. He doesn’t want any fight, but if push comes to shove, he knows he can defend himself. He was part of the Navy SEAL before he finally resigned to take care of his son.

“Do you want to do us the favor then?” The other guy answer making the rest of them laugh. The cornered boy looked worried now.

“I suggest you back off. This is your last warning.” Henry answered confident on his skill to come out of this situation victorious. The four guys just chuckle at his words.

“You are serious.” One of them asks between laughs.

“A player.” One of the guys notes while unsheathing his sword.

“A stupid one.” The other guy replies as he does the same.

The other two also draw their weapons, a staff and a hammer.

“The city police are not here to save you, old man. Start praying.” The first guy remarks with a giant smirk.

Henry looked at the four guys and realized what he did. In the real world, he would have kicked these guys’ ass, no problem. But he is in the virtual world. And he doesn’t have any weapon yet. He was trained to fight even without one but he doubts he can fight off four guys with weapons, not to mention that these guys are players who probably have character class skills.

The guy with the hammer runs towards him and the other two with swords follow. Henry maintained his combat trance. He is in the situation because of his own miscalculations. But if he remains calm, maybe he can still win this.

As one guy slams his hammer on the ground, emitting some sort of shock wave from the impact. It must have been a class skill. Luckily Henry was quick enough and manages to quickly jump back. Two guys appear beside him and their swords slash at him. He manages to evade the first sword but the second one manages to get him. It hit his arm, leaving a gushing wound. He yelped in surprise.

Henry knows that the virtual world feels like the real word. When he works his ass off at work, his stamina depletes and at some point, he becomes so tired that he can barely walk. When he gets hungry, he can really hear his belly growl in protest. And when he had the pestering cold, it had this splitting headache with it and he had to buy an antidote to get well. But he was not prepared on how realistic a cut from the sword feels.

His arm is bleeding as he lands on the ground and it stings like hell. His other hand trying to apply pressure on his wounded arm. The blood flowing out of his wound and it feels so realistic. He looks up and sees the fourth guy casting something, a giant pentagram appears at guy’s feet and Henry knows that the size of the pentagram shows the attack range of the caster. The fourth guy is clearly a mage of some sort. A lightning bolt appears out of nowhere. Henry manages to move to the side but unfortunately it was not enough. He felt his body jerk and convulse as the current of the lightning bolt traveled through his body.

He fell on his knees before his whole body drops to the ground. He whimpers in pain. He only has 14% HP now. If he gets hit again, he doesn’t know if he can survive it. He hasn’t died in-game yet. But he knows that dying in this virtual game means you will get punishments. Some are not allowed to log in for a specified time. Some has to wait for a respawn time. Some loss class skill levels, character levels, items, in-game money, etc. And Henry cannot afford any of that.

The hammer guy dashes towards him again and he manages to get up in time and dodge. He then quickly counterattacked with a right paw punch in the guy’s face. Luckily the four guys are not wearing their full armor. And the guy was not expecting a counterattack. Henry’s punch hits the guy square in the face with such force that the guy’s face distorts with the punch, his head shakes as his body lands on the ground.

The other three guys look shocked at what just happened. And before they could recover, Henry made his move. He still has no class skills but he knows he is faster than these guys, he was trained in combat for years and he knows he can do it. He dashes at one of the guys with the sword and manages to land punches to the guy’s sides where his armor is not protecting him. Henry punch with all his strength, enduring the pain from the cut he got earlier.

The caster quickly moved back and the other sword guy moves to defend the caster. Henry manages to get a few more punches before the guy manages to swing his sword. Henry luckily dodged the attack and moved back. ‘Now what?’ Henry asked himself as he knows that the other two guys are still combat ready. The third guy may be hurt but Henry can see that the guy’s HP is higher than his at 34%.

Then Henry saw something roll on the ground and then it explodes, sending the first sword guy back into a wall, depleting his life down to 12%.

“What was…” came the question from the other swords man when vines appear from the ground and wrapped around his feet. He tried to pull his feet up, but another vine came to wrap on his other feet. “Fuck”

“Kev…” a scream from the caster when someone appears behind him and stabbed him.

Everything is happening fast. And Henry does not understand what is going on. Something rolled on the floor again and smoke starts to surround them. He then felt a hand on his arm and he was about to punch whoever it was when he heard the guy say. “Come on. Let’s run.” The hand grabs on his hand and pulls him away. He does not know what is going on but he does not care at the moment. His HP is low, every punch he delivered earlier somehow depletes his HP and it now down to 5%. He run towards where he was being led.

“I think we lost them.” The other guy says. Henry realizes that it was the guy he saved. The teenage kid with the blue hair.

“Who were they? And what just happened?” Henry asked confused.

“Well, they… They were some guy I knew before. And... I don’t know what happened either.” The blue haired teenager replies, panting like Henry was.

“Was that you? The bomb, the vine, the…” Henry asks but stopped as he felt lightheaded. He suddenly becomes aware that his HP continued dropping to 2%. Henry fell on the ground as his vision starts to blur. Darkness starts to devour his vision.

 “Oh, God, Sir.” The blue haired teen exclaimed, but Henry’s vision is completely black now and the teens voice seems to come from somewhere far away.

“Are you okay? …HP … Drink …” Everything starts to seem distant. Even the sound he is hearing from the teenage kid. Or the sensation he feels as the teenager tries to shake his body to keep him awake. Or the wetness of the bottle that touched his lips. He moves his weak hands to push whatever it was in his mouth away. Then everything seems to turn black.


	4. The Alliance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When the savior, Henry needed saving and Isaac is more than willing to lend a hand. Will Henry let him help?
> 
> But what is Isaac's motivation? Is it because he is just grateful? Or does Isaac have a hidden agenda?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to real life event is purely coincidence. This story contains violence, non-consensual sex and involves an underage character. This story can get pretty dark story, maybe in the future, so be warned.

Isaac doesn’t know what to do. He manages to give the kind sir that saved him some HP potion, replenishing the man’s HP. But the man is still bleeding out and slowly draining the man’s HP yet again. It wouldn’t have been much of an issue if the kind man’s HP is not so low. Isaac was shocked that this kind man is still low-level, especially when he somehow managed to fend himself against high-level players. Luckily, they were already near Isaac’s inn. Isaac quickly run to the inn to call for help. Luckily his NPC friend Scott, was on duty that night. Scott helped Isaac carry the unconscious man to Isaac’s room. Scott even helped him dress the older man’s wound.

Isaac sat beside the bed, looking at the still unconscious kind man. He does not know the older man’s name yet. But he is really thankful for him. If it weren’t for the older man’s help, he would have been raped. He felt his body shiver at the thought. He blushes in shame as he starts to get hard at that thought.

“What is wrong with me?” Isaac asks himself. He can feel it again. He can feel that same yearning deep inside him. He can feel it now as he gazes at the older man that saved him last night. God, something really is wrong with him. His mind flashes back to that eventful night.

That night started out boring for Isaac. When he logged on into the game, he was teleported in his room in this inn. He had been sleeping in the same room for the whole duration of his Crystal Utopia days. When he first entered the game, he came to this inn to study. He met Scott that day and they instantly became friends. Although Scott is an NPC, Isaac really feels like the guy is a real person. An average-looking guy but incredibly build like a fortress. Isaac ended up staying in the inn for the night, and enjoyed it there. He stayed in that inn since then.

That night though, he did not stay in the inn to study. He waved at Scott as before he heads out to the local pub. He plans to stay for two or more days and then afterwards, he can properly say goodbye to his friend Scott. But tonight, he wants to drink beer. In the real world, he is not of legal age to drink beer, but in the Crystal Utopia, there is no age restriction. He is so depressed that night about Liam and how he had basically let the guy control him for months. So, he decides to drown himself with beer before he finally gets rid of the Crystal Utopia gaming capsule. It is almost like a bucket list for him at the moment.

He got in the bar and starts drinking. Feeling sorry for himself after he finally realized that he is nothing but a mouth to fuck for Liam. Nothing more. He was fine with that before. Now, he is not sure. He had fun, if he really admits it. It was a humiliating, shameful and perverted experience. One that he will not consent on in the real world. But in this world, he was glad to indulge in it. But still, deep in his mind, he is not contented. Because after more than a year of being Liam’s bitch in the virtual world, they are still not friends. Not in the virtual world. Certainly not in the real world. Their relationship in the real world only consists of Liam sneakily meeting Isaac to tell him about where and when they will meet in the virtual world for some ‘fun’.

Isaac has not drunk anything remotely alcoholic before, so two bottles of old-fashioned draft beer is enough for him to be a bit tipsy. He did not care. He is here to have fun for his last few days in this virtual utopia. But he soon realized that it was not such a good idea when he bumped into Kevin in the restroom. Kevin is one of Liam’s friends. And Kevin is one of the guys that Liam made Isaac service. It was a degrading experience, Isaac knows that now. But at the time, he was still so much in love with Liam. And every time the two meets in the virtual world it was like a fairy tale come true for him. Besides, it is a virtual world and it doesn’t count, right? And Isaac still believes it doesn’t count.

It was around the eighth month of him servicing Liam anytime the junior jock wants in the virtual world. And at that point. Isaac is pretty confident with his blowjob skills. He even did some personal research on the internet on ways to give mind-blowing blowjobs, just to please Liam. The junior jock did not say any word of appreciation but Isaac knows that Liam is very pleased. He can tell by the jock’s face while he deepthroats the guy and Liam look at him with that look of shock and ecstasy. He will never forget that face. In the virtual world, he lives to see that face as often as possible.

That night he was waiting in the inn, on his knees and with a blindfold on. Liam made him wear one that night. It was weird but he is too in love with Liam to say anything. Besides, Liam has strange requests, like making him wear a panty or a skimpy skirt of some sort. He did not like it then too, but he would do anything for Liam. He was in the middle of giving Liam a world-class blowjob. His hands on his back, Liam grabs his head and fucks his mouth like a fleshlight. At this point, Isaac is already taking this aggressive behavior from Liam as a compliment. Liam can be out of control at times but this time, he really seemed so worked up. It was like the first time again and Isaac loves it. Liam must have been teased by his girlfriend in the real world but was left with blue balls. Isaac takes that as a blessing and a gift from the gods.

But something strange happened.

“That’s it, bitch. Suck that cock like a pro. Show him how good my cock whore is.” Isaac froze upon hearing Liam’s voice. Liam usually say mean dirty derogatory words like that to him. And Isaac had to admit that those words turn him on like nothing ever did before. But that night, he can hear Liam say it from across the room. He struggles to move as the guy, whoever it was, did not stop fucking his mouth. He manages to pull his blindfold off and was shocked to see that he was really sucking another man. Isaac will soon know that guy as Kevin. Isaac doesn’t know the guy in the real world but he knows him as one of Liam’s guild members in the game.

Isaac quickly pushes the guy away. Kevin did not expect that so Isaac manages to free himself. He coughed and gagged, spitting the taste of another man’s cock out of his mouth. He turned to look at Liam with that expression of betrayal in his face.

“What is going on?” Isaac asks as his eyes starts to water. At this point, Liam was still under the impression that he and Liam are starting to become friends. And this betrayal of trust really came as a surprise to him.

“What is going on?” Liam asked with a smirk. “I am just being a good friend. And good friends share their personal cock suckers with their best buddies.” Liam chuckles to Isaac’s horror.

“Liam, no.” Isaac says with tears in his eyes. He can feel his body shaking. He can’t forget that look in Liam’s face though. The guy has this wicked grin in his face and his eyes sparks with lust and hunger. Isaac felt a tingle from deep inside his soul at that moment.

“NO? Are you kidding me? Do you want to me to stop letting you suck my cock?” Liam asked and Isaac shivered in fear. He doesn’t know why but those words terrifies him. It was like being told that he is going to fail a subject in school.

“Well…” Kevin asks, smirking as well. Isaac should have walked away at that moment. He would have if it wasn’t for that tingling, he felt inside him. It was like a craving, a hunger for something. And somehow at that moment, he knew what he was craving for – a taste of Liam’s cock.

“Can I… After…” was all Isaac could say. His face reddens with shame upon hearing his own words come out of his mouth. He wants to curl up with shame at that moment. He could not believe that he is really considering this.

‘This is the virtual world. What I do here will not matter in the real world. Just a game.’ Isaac kept telling himself as he sees the judgment in Kevin’s and Liam’s eyes. Kevin chuckles and Liam smirks at Isaac triumphantly.

“Of course, my little cock whore.” Liam answers. Isaac felt his throat dry up at that response. He felt the shame of what he is about to do. But his mind was set on something that night. His mind was set on sucking his ultimate crush Liam, afterwards.

Isaac looked up at the complete stranger. He can see the guy looking down at him, both literally and metaphorically. He can see the judgment in the other guy’s eyes. Isaac notes that Kevin looked older, like a university student level kind of older. That moment, Isaac wonders why Kevin is going around letting some underage gay high school student like himself, suck his cock. Kevin is not ugly and Isaac assumes college life means more fooling around. He moves closer. He closed his eyes and try to clear his thoughts before he opened his eyes again along with his mouth. He leaned his head closer, intending to resume giving the guy a blowjob. But shockingly, Kevin moved his cock away.

“No bitch. You have to beg for it.” Kevin announced. Isaac turned to Liam, expecting him to make this stop. But Liam just chuckles at him. Shame is eating Isaac’s heart as he feels the tingling inside him get more intense. He can feel his heart beat faster and butterflies starts flying in his stomach. It was like he is excited for this, which is impossible. Or so he thought.

“Please, Kevin. Let me suck your cock.” He managed to say while looking up at the stranger. He notes that Kevin seemed to be pleased with his words so he added. “Let this poor cock sucker have a taste of your mighty sword.” Talking dirty – something he learned in the internet. When he first used it on Liam, Liam came so hard that some of the older teen’s cum spewed out of Isaac’s nose. Kevin just smirked at him, enjoying the attention and the feeling of being worshipped.

“Good boy.” Kevin announced before he grabbed Isaac’s head. “Choke on my mighty sword, whore.” Was what Isaac heard next, before the older guy stabs his face with his throbbing member. Isaac naturally starts choking, which only urges the stranger on. Kevin starts fucking the poor boy’s throat, something he could never do to the girl he is going out with.

Kevin was his first cock, aside from Liam’s of course, but he was certainly not the last. Isaac couldn’t keep track of all the men Liam made him service. Isaac was stupid. He told himself that it was just a virtual world. No matter how realistic it felt, it is not real. It is just a game. So, it is okay to let Liam make him do things with these men.  Even if sometimes he felt like a whore and Liam is his pimp. And Isaac hates to admit that he is very much enjoying being used by Liam, even if he acts like he hates it.

That night in the bar, Isaac froze when he saw Kevin. Even at his drunken state he knew what he got himself into. And despite how much his logical mind is telling him to be scared and run, he felt that tingle again from deep inside him.

“Oh, look who it is.” Kevin announced when he saw Isaac. Kevin’s voice sends shiver down Isaac’s spine and went straight to his groin. Isaac blushes as he feels himself getting hard at the possibilities.

“Oh, hi Kevin.” He manages to say.

“Hey, cock sucker.” Came the response. “Do you want something to suck on tonight?” Kevin asks with an inviting grin.

Isaac knew that he could say no. He knew that he should say no. He is fully aware that because Liam is not there, he could tell Kevin to fuck off. But he didn’t. Deep inside him, he didn’t want to.

“Meet me in the back? In five minutes?” Isaac answered. Kevin smirked and chuckled.

“I thought I would have to strong arm you into this.” Kevin responds honestly. “But I ain’t complaining.” He chuckles as he turned and left.

‘What did I do?’ Isaac asks himself. His mind starts to clear but he can still feel himself craving the promised action. He can feel his heart beating fast in anticipation. He has to get away from here. He walks out of the bathroom and surveyed the place. He sees the back door to the right and the entrance to the bar at the left. Something deep inside him screams to go to the right, but he quickly walked towards the entrance.

He managed to get away from the bar. He is tipsy and drunk. He knew he had to get to the inn and hide. He can feel the hunger inside him growing. Urging him to go back to the bar and go in the back. But he didn’t. He shouldn’t. He knew that Kevin will know that something is up when he did not show up. He feared that the guy might see him in the streets, so he heads for the dark empty alley, which was the worse decision he made as he stumbled into Kevin soon after. Isaac froze as he sees four figures in that alley.

“Who do we have here?” Isaac heard one of them say. He turned as one of them advanced and he saw another familiar face – Carter. Carter is one of Liam’s friend.

“What is… Who?” Isaac asked nervously. The meeting place was in a dark alley, and no one is around to help him now. Isaac realized that he should have just went to the back of the bar. Maybe then, he wouldn’t have to deal with all four of them.

“They are my friends. They want to have a piece of you too.” Kevin smirked. “I know you want them cocks. You eat them like cereal in the morning. And we got some milk too.”

“But… I... It was not part of the deal.” Isaac answered as the four guys start to approach him closer. He can use his skills but there are four of them. And they have higher character levels than him.

“Well, this is not the back of the bar, either.” Kevin noted. “So, for tonight, the deal will be: either you do it willingly for the four of us. Or we make you do it.” Kevin answers chuckling.

“Please Kevin. I… I don’t think this is funny. Liam... he…” Isaac started stuttering. He is so scared that he had no choice but to drop Liam’s name. Hoping that Kevin would back off. But then his eyes meet with Carter and he knew that he is screwed. Carter is Liam’s friend. Carter knows how possessive Liam is. And Isaac knows that if he tells Liam about this, Carter will just tell Liam how Isaac made a deal to suck Kevin off in the back of some raunchy bar.

“But Liam is not here now. And I doubt you will tell him that you came to an empty alley with me.” Kevin dared. Kevin also knows that Isaac will not tell Liam about this, mainly because Liam is a jealous controlling man.

“Please... Kevin, I…” Isaac started to beg when he saw a figure appear at the end of the alley. “Someone is coming.” He added. Hoping that the four guys will leave him alone now.

“Well, let him watch. Maybe he would even want to join.” One of the other guys added.

“Yes, even NPCs want some action, right?” the last one added with a chuckle.

“Come on boy. Don’t be shy.” Kevin urged.

Then just as he thought he is completely doomed. The older man that passed by stopped. And then start to talk to Kevin and his friends. Isaac would have been more confident and relieved if the older guy is equipped with high end armor, or at the very least have some decent armor. But the older man looked to be a low-level character. One quick check using Isaac’s class skill, he can tell that the older man is not an NPC.

When the fight unfolds in front of him, he felt sorry for the older man. The man doesn’t have any weapon, which means he is either a melee class or he is just so low-level that he doesn’t have a weapon yet. Isaac was as shocked as the rest of the guys when the older man starts to attack. Knocking out of the Kevin’s friend with a single punch. And landing damage enough to drop the other guy’s HP down to less than half. Maybe the older man, really is a melee fighter.

Knowing that the older man needs his help, Isaac used his bomb to attack the third guy. But out of the blue, other players came. And judging from the attacks they were not low-level players. Isaac knew that the only option is to run. So, he used the last of his smoke bomb to escape. And now, he is here sitting beside the bed, looking at the older man.

As he stares, he realizes how hot the older man is. The older man has everything that Isaac can wish for in a man. The smoldering looks. The chiseled jaw. The manly beard. Thick eyebrows. And if he remembers correctly, the older also has great white teeth, deep dimples and piercing green eyes. Isaac’s gaze starts to travel down on the unconscious man’s body. The man’s outfit is that of a new player. He doesn’t have armor or anything. And the soft material of it gives away how good the man’s physique is. Isaac can’t help but bite his lip as those dirty thoughts starts to flood his mind. He has to shake his head to get those thoughts out. Ever since he started those escapades with Liam, he is getting hornier often. Dirty thoughts keep popping in his head and even if he knows that this older man is old enough to be his own father, he just feels his throat drying up at the idea. Liam has made him into what he needs – a cock hungry whore. Deny as he might, he can’t get these twisted things out of his head. It is like he is addicted to it all, much like Liam wanted. But what is strange is how he feels differently in the real world. It is as if the virtual game is affecting him somehow.

Just then, those piercing emerald eyes open and turns to Isaac. Isaac smiled before he jumped back as the man quickly jumped up in bed and went into combat mode. “Who… Where am I?” the older man asks. He is breathing heavily. He moans before looking down at his bandaged arm.

“Oh, Hi. I am Isaac. Thank you for saving me last night. You are in my room.” Isaac answers. He feels a sting of guilt as he caught himself wishing that he had more time to undress the guy while he was unconscious.

“Oh. Ummm…I am Henry.” The older man replies, still looking down at the wound on his arm. It does not hurt as much and it is no longer bleeding, but it feels sore. Much like his body. He relaxed his body, realizing that he is not in danger.

“Nice to meet you Henry. I am really thankful about last night. You don’t need to help me but you did. I am really grateful. I want to return the favor. I felt like I owe you something.” Isaac announces while feeling a bit guilty. And honestly, with the older man up and awake, he can see what the man really looks like and he can feel his body shivering at the idea of it.

“Oh, that was. Yeah. Well, I am going to work. I really need to work now. You don’t need to do anything. Okay?” Henry says as he gets down the bed. He sighs at the idea of working again. He then mentally scolds himself for acting reckless last night. “Thank you or helping me by the way. Did I die?” Henry asked curiously. He hadn’t died in-game before so he doesn’t know what it feels like. He just wants to know if he did die.

“No, you didn’t. Luckily I gave you an HP potion in time.” Isaac answers.

“HP potion?” Henry asks, confused. “Those things exist in this game?” he asked shocked. He knows about HP potion from online games he played before but he did not imagine those things exist even in this game.

“Of course, they do. Wait. What level are you?” Isaac asks curiously.

“It doesn’t matter. I really need to go to work. Nice to meet you Isaac.” Henry says as he heads for the door.

“Wait… I can help you… I want to help...” Isaac could not even finish talking before the older man is out the door. Isaac quickly runs after the guy. He has no purpose in this game now. He wants to cut ties with Liam because he knows that Liam is a really toxic guy. And at the same time, he really finds Henry attractive. And the older man’s chivalry last night made him even more attracted to him.

“Wait, I can help you. I owe you for saving me last night.” Isaac says as he caught up with Henry.

“And you saved me by using your HP potion. So, we are even. Where are we? Where’s the Clover Pub?” Henry asks as he realizes that he is really late for work. And also, his bag of food for the month is missing. “Where’s my backpack?”

“Well, you got hurt because of me so we are not even.” Isaac reasons out as he walked fast to catch up with Henry. “The Pub you are talking about is that way, and you must have left your bag when we run away last night.” Isaac answers.

“Fuck. All my food is in there.” Henry remarks angry at himself. “Inventory.” He announces as his inventory appeared in front of him. Isaac can’t see it of course. Henry is so relieved to see his in-game money is still in his possession.

“Hey. I can buy you food.” Isaac offers almost pleading as the older man seemed to be ignoring him and is worrying so much.

“You don’t understand. All my food is in there. It is a month’s worth of food.” Henry exclaims as if his frustrated explanation is going to make Isaac understand.

“Well, I can pay for your food for the whole month.” Isaac offers. That got Henry to stop and turn to the younger teen. He looked at the younger kid suspiciously. In the light of day, Henry can now see how young the kid is. The kid’s blue hair looks brighter in the day light. The kid also has freckles in his face and the kid’s eyes are brown, and looks lighter in the morning sun.

“Promise. I have the money.” Isaac offers again when the man stopped talking.

“I can’t make you do that.” Henry announces as if he just finished debating with himself and he is telling himself that it is his final answer.

“Well, I want to pay for your food for the month.” Isaac announces. Henry was ready to say No again when his stomach made a loud growling sound. He blushes in embarrassment. When Isaac saw the older man blush, he felt himself start to get hard again. He had to close his eyes for a second to compose himself. He then smiled and grabbed the older man’s hand, pulling the older man into a restaurant. It was in fact a restaurant that Henry once worked in, three days ago.

“We don’t have to eat here. We can go to the town square and buy some wheat bread.” Henry offers. It was his seventh day. He knows he is going to eat another apple for breakfast, counting the apples down before he starts to eat wheat breads for the rest of the month, a little upgrade but a much-welcomed change.

“Don’t be silly. I need to treat my hero with a very good breakfast.” Isaac chuckles as they were led by a waiter into a table by the corner of the restaurant. Henry knew the prices at this restaurant and it made him a bit uneasy. He wonders if the kid doesn’t know just how expensive the food here are. Well, it is really not that expensive but for Henry it is. 2 silver and 50 copper coins for a single warm meal is just too much for him.

“What do you want to order?” Isaac asks.

“Well, they don’t have wheat bread here.” Henry remarks almost chuckling at his own joke. Isaac looks at him curiously, not knowing what is up with wheat breads and this guy. Henry on the other hand, feels like is his taking advantage of the boy’s generosity, especially when he points to the warm meal in the menu.

“That is a fine choice.” Isaac remarks. “Two special warm meal please, and two elixirs of bravery to start the day.” Isaac tells the waitress.

“Two special warm meal and elixir of bravery coming up.” He waitress says before she leaving. Henry’s eyes quickly dart back to the menu, looking at the price of their order. The special warm meal is worth 4 silver coins each and the elixir of bravery is 2 silver coins each. All in all, there meal will be worth 12 silver coins. He wants to say something but he decided to remain silent, for now.

The food came and it looks very delicious. And it really was. Although after eating apples for 6 straight days, anything other than an apple would have tasted heavenly. And the elixir of bravery was so refreshing. After the meal, he feels himself getting stronger somehow.

_You gained 10 intelligence points. This effect will last for 24 hours._

_You gained 50 health points. This effect will last for 24 hours._

_You gained 100 mana points. This effect will last for 24 hours._

_You gained 10 strength points. This effect will last for 24 hours._

“What?” Henry asks unsure what just happened.

“Oh, yeah, great food has attribute effects like raising your health and mana points. It is just temporary though.” Isaac explains.

“Wow, really. That is why they were so expensive.” Henry adds, amazed. Isaac just laughed.

“Anyway, do you want to do quests with me? We can go hunting outside the city.” Isaac offers, hoping that the older man would agree. He knew the guy for just a few hours but he really wants to stay close to him.

“That is a great offer but I am still in Level 7. And only Level 10 players can get outside the city.” Henry explains. He hopes that the younger teen would give up. Because personally he really doesn’t want to go outside for now. He believes that working inside the city would give him more money and therefore he could get closer to the 150 silver coins he needs for the map.

“That is not a problem. We can buy elixirs of experience for you. A small one would be enough, I think.” Isaac offers happily. He knows that it is not advised to drink elixirs of experience in this game because it just gives you character experience points. Your character will level up but your class skill level will stay the same. Taking too much elixir of experience will result to weak characters. For instance, a Level 45 character will be useless in battle if his class skill level is still so low. But for low level player like Henry, it won’t be much of a problem. Although now that he thinks about it, he wonders how a Level 7 Classless player like Henry managed to land a huge damage on a Level 50 something warrior.

“Well, I actually really need the money from my job here in the city.” Henry explains. He feels like being up front and honest would work on Isaac, because his previous attempts to push the kid away was not working.

“Oh, but monsters outside the city gives more coins that any job in the city. And they drop items too.” Isaac explains. Henry looks at the teenager with shocked expression on his face as he hears this information.

“Really?” Henry asks, doubting the young teen’s information.

“Yeah.” Isaac answers like Henry is being silly for not knowing that.

“Well, let’s get going.” Henry announces excited now. He may not want to have a teenage boy hanging around him at the moment, but if the kid is willing to help, maybe he can tolerate him for a few more days. Just until he leaves the city to go to Barinheim.

“Okay, then. I will send you the party invitation.” Isaac announces grinning. For the first time in forever, he is smiling again. And not because of Liam and his twisted ways. He feels like he is genuinely happy now. Maybe.


	5. Combat Ready

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.”
> 
> An unlikely duo of a broken widower and a hopeless romantic teenager. Surely, this is not going to end well. Or will it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to real life event is purely coincidence. This story contains violence, non-consensual sex and involves an underage character. This story can get pretty dark story, maybe in the future, so be warned.

“I don’t know Mr. Carmichael.” Isaac says teasingly.

“Oh, shut up, Isaac. I thought I was filling in my name.” Henry explains as they eat grilled rabbit meat that Isaac cooked for the two of them. It was of course a lie, but Henry figured a little white lie like this won’t hurt anyone. He knew that he can name his virtual character with any name but he just doesn’t want to waste time by coming up with a better name. Besides, he thought he wasn’t going to stay in this game for long. And telling Isaac about this would mean he has to get into details about his life. He is not yet ready to talk about that with anyone. If the shrink can’t make him do it, nothing can.

“Yeah, Mr. Henry Carmichael.” Isaac adds laughing.

They have been hunting for three days now. Although the experience that Isaac is getting is not that significant given his level, it is certainly helping Henry. Now he is at level 16. Still 9 more levels away from being able to choose Treasure Hunter as his class, but closer than he ever was before. Also, he already got around 107 silver coins which is awesome. And now they also got good beginner items.

“Well, how about you Isaac46? That is a lame ass name. And I just can tell that 46 is your favorite number.” Henry answers back laughing.

‘Well, you look 46 and I would really love to hear your number.’ Isaac want to reply naughtily. But he feels like Henry would not like that remark. “Well at least it is no last name.” Isaac replies instead.

Isaac looks at Henry. The older man is wearing a new shirt and pants from the item dropped from the low-level monsters. The new wear does not have much item attribute but it is much better than the torn dirty clothes that Henry was wearing. The weird leather boots with +10 physical armor and the ring with +5 HP regen bonus were very much welcomed too. Add to that the blue bandana he wears that has a +2 movement speed, Henry looked like a mash-up of assorted items. Anyone would have looked ridiculous but somehow Henry pulls it off and Isaac is falling even more for the guy.

“Come on, rest is over, let’s go to the Level 25 monsters this time. I bet we can defeat them.” Isaac offered with a smile.

“I don’t know if we can. I still don’t have a class or any skills remember?” Henry replied, hesitant about the idea.

“Hey, it is not my fault. It would have been easier if you had picked a class when you reached level 10. You could have been a great warrior. Or maybe even a helpful spellcaster when you reached level 15.” Isaac remarks. He knew the guy was aiming for another class. Maybe the wizard at Level 25, or maybe even the archers, lancers or maybe something else. But he just likes teasing the guy.

“Well, we were getting by just fine even with Level 20 monsters. And I just have a specific class in mind.” He adds with a smile. He had put off choosing a class for a while and with every level up, he gets attribute points. He still hasn’t done some research about which attribute to level up for the treasure hunter class so he adds some points to his HP and some at strength to equip his armor. But he saved up his other attribute points for later.

“Well, those boring Level 20 wolves were really easy to defeat. The higher-level Giant bees of Level 25 however are another story. They have poisonous stingers and we need antidotes for that. The damage is not that much but the poison stacks up and your HP dwindles pretty fast with them.” Isaac protests.

“Well, we just have to make sure that we kill them before they could strike with their stingers?” Henry announces with a charming smile. Isaac can feel his heart jumping in his chest at the sight of the older man’s deep dimples and killer crooked smile. Isaac just chuckles at the man.

That is exactly how Isaac falls madly in love with the older man. The man acknowledges his ideas even the reckless ones. And during battle, even with no skill and class, he is very dependable. And if he says he will do something, he will do everything he can to fulfill it. A man of his words and a very charming man. Isaac always has a never-ending boner around the guy. A perpetual “blue balls” for him, but Isaac really doesn’t mind. Just the sight of the older man is enough for him. And by that it means that Isaac is jacking himself off crazy at night in bed in his own room, while fantasizing about Henry and how the older man can dominate him. He would follow the guy wherever he goes, just to be near him.

And that is how they find themselves running away from a colony of giant bees that is following them. Henry quickly spots the entrance of the cave, and without hesitation, grabs Isaac’s hand. He leads the two of them towards the cave, hoping that they can somehow lose those giant bees inside the cave. As they were running and heading for the cave entrance, Henry notices that the number of giant bees that were going after them is slowly dwindling. That probably means that they are nearing the end of the giant bee territory. When they finally enter the cave, the last of the Giant bees just stops in their track and then turn and go flying back to their hive.

“What was that?” Henry asks as Isaac continues laughing. “We almost died.” Henry remarks as he drinks the poison antidote and an HP potion to replenish his HP.

“I know, right?” Isaac adds still giggling doing the same. They still panting from running, but Isaac still manages to laugh.

“That is not funny.” Henry adds. “I thought we can manage the giant bees. I thought you said you fought them before.”

“Well, I said that giant bees have a weakness. And they do. See how we easily killed that first one.” Isaac answers defensively.

“It was not easy, you got stung and almost died. And the other giant bees noticed and started flocking towards us.” Henry answers back, frustrated the young teen is taking this lightly.

“Well, that part I did not know. I only heard someone told me about giant bees. And he said they were easy monsters to hunt.” Isaac admits, feeling guilty. Based on the older man’s reaction to the situation, he is serious about not wanting to die in the game. From the past days that they have been hunting together, he gets the impression that Henry has a goal somehow. Something that he needs to do as soon as possible, and he realized that death in-game would really delay that.

“What? You did not hunt Giant Bees yourself? You…” Henry exclaims with shock and frustration.

“Sorry, I-I am really sorry.” Isaac says as he realized how seriously alarmed Henry was. “I am really, really sorry. I just… leveling up is getting harder for you and I thought hunting Level 30 monsters would be faster. Besides, the drop is great and I know you have been saving up for something.” Isaac replies regretfully. He even looks scared at how angry Henry seemed, despite the tingling he feels from the pits of his soul with the sight of Henry’s furious face. He feels guilty for jeopardizing the two of them. He was lucky that Henry’s reflex is fast and so he managed to block most of the giant bees’ attack with the shield they got from the equipment store in the city. The shield broke though as it was a cheap one and the damage it took was pretty massive.

“Well, we should not do that again. I am sorry that I overreacted.” Henry replies as he sees the young teen’s face. He feels horrible for scaring the kid.

“Don’t worry I will not hurt you.” He adds regretful that he would made the kid feel that way. He felt a bit guilty for getting angry at Isaac when he knows that the boy is just trying to help. He adds his signature smile to lighten the mood, indicating that he is fine now and is not angry at Isaac. He doesn’t know where he will be if the teen had not offered his help. He would probably still be working in the city, low level and far from reaching the 150 silver coins goal he has.

‘Oh, I wish you would.’ Isaac’s mind says. He shivers at how strongly he feels his attraction is towards Henry. “No, you didn’t overreact. It was... Nah, let’s forget about it.” Isaac says before he peeks out into the woods again. He doesn’t see any giant bees around anymore but he can hear some buzzing. “You think it is safe to come back out now?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe it would be safer to come back out at night, Giant Bees sleep when it’s dark.” Henry answers. He remembers the information Isaac gave earlier about the Giant Bees.

“Maybe we can hunt them at night. It would be easier right?” Isaac suggests eagerly.

“Yeah, I guess their vision is limited but I think we should wait until we are strong enough.” Henry adds with a chuckle, admiring the younger teen’s enthusiasm. “What do you think this cave is. It’s not in the map that we bought.” Henry remarks.

“I know right? I was wondering the same thing. Do you think it is some sort of a quest area? Maybe there is a treasure inside.” Isaac says with big smile on his face. Henry just chuckles at that. He really finds the younger teen so energetic and almost too much sometimes. He would have guessed he will get annoyed by now, but it just makes the younger teen so adorable and endearing. Henry sometimes wonder if his son would be as energetic if he was not in a coma. Of course, Isaac is much older than his boy but he can really picture his son being as enthusiastic about things. Or at least, he wishes that.

“You wanna check the place out?” Isaac asks as he walks inside the cave.

“Isaac, come on. We don’t know if there are traps anywhere.” Henry says feeling a bit cautious now. After the close call with the Giant Bees, he is not in a mood for another life-threatening situation.

“Oh, don’t worry, Mr. Carmichael, I am very good with things like this. It is one of the things I am good at.” Isaac says confidently. He is talking about his character skill but somehow it came off like he is talking about his other talents. Talents that he learned from being Liam’s bitch. He felt a bit naughty and dirty at that unintentional implication and his hard cock twitches at the idea.

“Oh, you better be good at it. Or we are screwed.” Henry adds with a chuckle. He chose to trust the boy at that moment. But clueless that his words sounded so dirty to Isaac, making the boy whimper as another wave of pleasure run through his body towards his leaking erection.

Suddenly a window popped up before them.

_Welcome to the Cave of the Undead. For being one of the few players who discovered this dungeon, for the next 48 hours, you earn the following:_

_\+ 100% experience with every monster slayed in this dungeon_  
_+50 Luck_  
_\+ 50% gold and item drop_  
_\+ 100 HP_  
_\+ 50 MP_  
_\+ 50 Strength_  
_+50 Endurance_

“Wow. Bonus stats.” Isaac exclaims.

“Well, that just means that we will be meeting monsters in this dungeon. Do you really think we should continue?” Henry asks even more cautious now because of the popup window.

“Well, only way to find out.” Isaac smirks as he leads the way inside the cave. Henry was always prepared. His watchful eyes remained alert as they made their way inside the dungeon. He expects monsters to come out, creatures of the undead if he had to guess based on the name of the place. But after minutes of walking there was nothing. Not a single monster was inside. Although Isaac did find some booby traps here and there. Isaac was able to disarm them though. As they continue walking Henry starts to wonder if there really are monsters inside the dungeon. Maybe someone came there already and killed all the monsters?

“I don’t see any trap but I think…” Isaac was leading the way, looking very intensely on the cave walls and floor. He is keeping an eye out for any booby trap that may come their way. He was just so focused on this that he did not notice the two skeleton soldiers just around the corner. Luckily, Henry was paying attention and quickly manages to stop Isaac from making more sounds. The older man quickly slides closer to the clueless boy and moved his hand to cover the boy’s mouth, interrupting the boy in mid-sentence. But Henry’s hand on the boy’s mouth was not the reason why Isaac stopped talking. It is the fact that Henry is standing behind him, incredibly close that he can feel the warmth radiating from the older man’s body. And what he can’t help but notice is the size of the older man’s bulge that is being pressed on his behind.

“Shhh… We need to keep quiet.” Henry whispered to the boy’s ears. Isaac can feel the older man’s warm exhales brushing on his ears and he can’t help but shiver. His mind still in shock at the brazen action of the older man. All this time Isaac thought that nothing will ever happen between them, but not that doesn’t seem to be the case. But when Henry felt the young teen’s body shiver, he thought it was because Isaac already saw the two skeleton soldiers in front of them. Those soldiers look to be at least Level 35. Henry is sure they will die if those things see them.

But at that moment, Isaac’s mind is completely focused on the closeness of their bodies. He could not help but arch his back a little, just so his ass will lean back more and press harder on the older man’s crotch. “God, it’s so big.” Isaac whispered back, still clueless about the two skeleton soldier. In his mind he is thinking that the older man is making a move on him and all he could think about is ‘Finally.’

“I know. I don’t think you can take it.” Henry replied realizing that if a fight does break out, he will be helpless and Isaac would have to fend for the two of them. And he doesn’t think the boy could handle two skeleton soldiers on his own. Henry still doesn’t know the boy’s character level or his class but from their previous hunting together, he knows that the young teen can’t take two at a time.

“Ummm… God, I would at least try. Please Mr. Carmichael.” Isaac says almost begging. Remaining clueless about what the older man is really talking about. All this time, he has his eyes close and his ass moving, and slowly grinding against the older man’s crotch even more. He is not quite sure but he thinks he felt it twitch for him. Maybe it was his wishful thinking. He can’t really believe this is happening, in the first place. And he could not have imagined that the older man would talk dirty to him.

“Come on, Isaac. Don’t be silly. You can’t take it. You are not strong enough to take it. You will just end up getting hurt.” Henry whispered back. Almost begging the boy to hold still. He doesn’t know why the teenager is moving around so much but the boy’s ass is rubbing him a sensual way. Henry is not gay but it has been too long for him and at that moment, he really wants to focus on the dangerous situation at hand. Not that sporting a hard-on while pressed on an underage boy is not as dangerous.

“Please, Mr. Carmichael. Please, let me try. I would gladly die trying.” The teenager teased as he grinds himself more on the widower. He is grinning now. He is so excited that he is already leaking on his boxers in extreme anticipation.

“Isaac, please stop.” Henry says in a stern voice. “There are two of them and I don’t want you to die a pointless death.” Henry adds. Isaac was in his own world but the older man’s words made him rethink about what he thinks is happening.

“What do you mean by two of… GOD.” Isaac mutters as he opens his eyes and sees the two skeleton soldiers. He froze. He felt a mixture of fear and terror because of the sight of the two skeleton soldiers. But he also feels ashamed for thinking something so dirty at that time. Suddenly everything made sense now. And his world almost collapsed on him yet again.

“W0-Th- they are too strong for the two of us.” Isaac whispered back as he quickly pulls himself away from the older man’s body. Henry lets him go as he realized that the boy is no longer planning to rush and attack without any care. Henry remained clueless that the boy was completely in a different world just moments ago.

“We should…” Henry says and stopped as he sees one of the skeleton soldiers looking at him. “Run.” He quickly mutters before he runs away. Isaac runs just behind him and the two skeleton soldiers followed them. The cave was like a maze for them as Henry run just to escape the skeleton soldiers. At that moment he would pick the Giant Bees, easily. He realized then that either he is going the wrong way or they were really so deep inside the caves that going back outside takes a long time.

Unfortunately, it was the first one because Henry ended up in a dead-end path and now cornered. Luckily it seems only one skeleton soldier remained and the other one gave up along the way. With this match being a 2-vs-1, maybe they have a chance at winning.

He turned and see Isaac running towards him. He assumes his combat stance and readies himself for a battle. “Smoke and attack from afar.” Henry says and even in a dire situation like this Isaac knew what the man meant. He quickly draws a smoke bomb from his pocket and then tossed on the floor before he run past Henry, he got into position with his explosive bombs in hand. They have perfected this battle strategy when they were fighting the wolves. Isaac would lure a wolf towards Henry and them they would fight the wolf 2-vs-1. Henry would do the melee fight while Isaac would throw his bombs whenever he has a chance.

As the smoke starts to rise, Henry got ready, the skeleton soldier steps into the smoky field before it realizes what is happening. Henry quickly went offensive before the skeleton soldier would catch up with what is going on. Henry throws a punch towards the skeleton soldier’s jaw, Sending the soldier’s jaw to fly away from his body.

The skeleton screeches in anger before he slashes his sword around. Henry was quick to dodge it. He lunges forward with another punch that landed on the skeleton soldier’s armor. The skeleton soldier slashes towards Henry again and once again Henry manages to dodge. He then steps back as Isaac throws in a bomb. A loud explosion follows. And Henry took that time to lunge again with the finishing blow. Or at least that is what their dynamics was when it was a wolf they were fighting. But this time though, as the explosive smoke starts to clear, the skeleton soldier’s slashing sword meets Henry. He is in midair. He can only try to dodge but still ended up being struck with the sword attack. The blow was not as fatal as it could have been but still his HP quickly drops down to 21%.

“Mr. Carmichael.” Isaac screams before he tossed another smoke bomb to hopefully help the man escape. The skeleton soldier swings his sword towards the older man and even in his wounded state, Henry manages to roll to the side and avoid the fatal blow. The smoke bomb certainly helped Henry as the skeleton soldier stopped attacking. Isaac wants to throw another explosive but he is not sure where Henry is and therefore, he is not sure if he will end up hurting his party member with his attacks.

Henry rolls to the side as he sees the skeleton soldier recover and then starts slashing his sword around. He quickly jumps back to avoid the sword that is being waved around. He doesn’t know what to do now. He has no skill because he has no class and Isaac could not attack without hurting him in the process. With the skeleton soldier being blind from the smoke bomb, Henry took the chance to drink the last HP potion he has in his inventory. It was a small HP potion which replenished his HP up to 78%.

‘One more time.’ He told himself before he dashes back into the battle field. The skeleton soldier swings his sword and Henry easily jumped up, dodging the sword. He then run towards the skeleton soldier and punches the monster’s side, hitting the part where the armor is not protecting the monster. He then throws an upper cut, hitting the pained skeleton soldier straight into its skull. The skeleton soldier’s head came flying away. The soldier swings his sword at Henry again and Henry quickly ducked to dodge the sword, only to get hit by the skeleton soldier’s kick. Henry came flying away. His HP drops back down to 37%. Henry starts coughing in pain. And he can even taste blood in his mouth.

Isaac quickly throws another explosive bomb towards the skeleton soldier, now that he is sure that Henry is out of the way. He follows that up immediately with another explosive bomb just to be sure. But it did not work as the skeleton soldier emerges from the smoky bombed area and came running towards Isaac. Henry wants to run and defend the kid but his side is still bleeding from the wound he got earlier. And now he feels like broken ribs were added to the list of his injuries.

Isaac tries to defend himself by dodging and blocking the skeleton soldier’s attack but it was pointless. By the first swing of the sword, Isaac manages to duck. The second swing, he tries to block using his dagger but only ended up taking a damage on his arm. The third swing, he could not dodge and soon he was sent flying to the cave walls, his HP dropping to 24%.

Henry could only watch as the skeleton soldier swings his sword towards the pained teenager bleeding on the cave floor. But out of the blue someone appears in front of Isaac and saved him. Blocking the skeleton soldier’s sword with a dagger.

Then vines start to sprout from the ground again, wrapping around the skeleton soldier’s legs. Henry quickly notices the pentagram that reaches up to the skeleton soldier. His gaze is drawn towards the shadows where the pentagram originates. Then he sees the skeleton soldier start to swing his sword towards Isaac. The guy who appears in front of Isaac, grabbed him and they quickly disappeared and then reappears a few feet away.

Out of nowhere, a fiery arrow that flies across the field towards the skeleton soldier. The skeleton soldier tries to swing his sword at the arrow but misses it. The arrow pierced through the soldier’s armor and the monster quickly starts going in flames. It starts screaming again. The sharp screeching sound emanates from the monster as it slowly crumbles to the ground and turns into a pile of ashes.

Henry quickly turned to Isaac with the strange guy. He balls his fist ready to fight even to the death at this point. He knows he is no match against whoever these new guys are but, he felt compelled to defend Isaac. Then out of the shadow, another shady figure came out. The pentagram moves as the figure does and Henry can tell that the shady figure is the caster.  If a fight breaks out, it will be 2-vs-2. Judging from how easily the two manages to kill the skeleton soldier, they are at a disadvantage, especially with the two of them already running low on HP.

“Who are you people?” Henry quickly asks as he remained in combat stance. The figure in the robe removes the hood that was covering her face. A very good-looking girl with wavy green hair came into view. Only then did Henry notice that the shady figure earlier was a bit on the shorter side, he should have guessed it was a girl. But it doesn’t really mean he should let his guard down.

“Hey, calm down old man. We are here to help.” The unknown guy announced. The guy is wearing all black outfit. He is not wearing any metal armor or sporting any shiny item, just plain black outfit that to be fair, looks comfortable. Isaac was on the floor clenching his teeth and grabbing at his arm where the skeleton soldier managed to hit him. It got Henry worried about Isaac but he is still on guard so he doesn’t want to show his emotions.

“And what is up with your looks? You deliberately chose the hot DILF look for this game? What are you a sex predator?” the unknown girl remarks with a cheeky attitude as the pentagram below her starts to dim and fade away. The girl is clearly wearing a dark crimson robe. It looks great on her. She looks older than Isaac but certainly younger than the guy she is with.

“Shut up, Alice.” The unknown guy remarked. “Look we are not here to fight. We are here probably for the same reason as you. So, let’s not fight. Okay?” Henry just looked at the guy still unsure if he can trust him, and clueless about what the guy meant.

“Come on, you two are already in a bad shape.” the unknown girl remarks. Henry did not say anything but he relaxes a bit. The girl is right. They really are in a bad shape and in a complete disadvantage. If a fight breaks out now, he and Isaac will probably die. And if the other two intends to be friendly at the moment, Henry would gladly accept that. But he knows he still has to keep his guard up.

“Okay, great. I am Adam, by the way and that is Alice.” The guy says. The girl just smiles at him.

“Oh, I am Henry and that is Isaac.” Henry responds as he walks limping towards Isaac.

“Are you okay?” He asks Isaac. The teen looked like he is badly hurt and the pained look is tugging at Henry’s heart strings. “Do you still have HP potion or something?” He asks. He knows that the two of them probably need first aid to help with the bleeding, they already used all their stock of that when they fought with the wolves the day before. They would probably need to go back to the city to recuperate.

“I took the last one earlier.” Isaac admits. Henry feared the same. He has kept track of their HP potion and based on his calculations, they indeed drunk all of their HP potion stock too.

“Okay, then…we are heading back to the city ASAP. Thank you for your help Adam and Alice. We owe you our lives.” Henry says before he crouches down and put Isaac’s arm over his shoulder, helping the younger teen get up. But it was hard because Henry is so much taller than Isaac so if Henry stands upright, Isaac feet won’t reach the ground. Henry could have easily carried the wounded boy back to the city but he too is wounded.

“Don’t be silly.” Alice says as he stumps the bottom of her staff on the ground and the pentagram once again appears under her. With Isaac wounded and unable to fight, Henry knows he has no choice but to try and fight these two alone. Even if it costs him his life. He just hopes that the penalty they incur upon death won’t be so severe. He quickly grabs the wounded teen and carried him in his arm. The boy’s weight was negligible as Henry’s adrenaline kicks in.

The pentagram appears below them and Henry jumps back to stay out of it. Jumping back while carrying Isaac with him was hard but he managed to. The pentagram became bigger though and they already have their backs on the cave wall. He only had one choice to dash towards Alice for an attack. Before he could do it though, he felt green light radiating from below, and he felt light-headed. He felt his strength starts to return and he realizes that his HP is also increasing.

_Bleeding effects neutralized. Regeneration effect boosted._

“What is…” Henry remarks, shocked at the turn of events.

“Dude, chill. You overreact so much.” Alice says laughing.

“Alice over here is an elemental caster and he specializes on Earth elements. So, with that comes a bit of a healing skill. It is not as good as a priest’s healing skill but for low-levels like you two, it is more than good enough.” Adam explains.

Henry did feel great again. He looked down and so was Isaac. Although Isaac is blushing furiously and Henry realized that he still has the boy in his arms like he is carrying a teenage baby. “Sorry.” Henry announces before he put the teenage boy back down.

“No worries.” Isaac replies blushing. Isaac’s heart is beating so fast. He was just in his crush’s arms, being carried away like a damsel in distress or something. And it felt so good. And for the first time, he was not hard at the thought of it. Despite the closeness they had earlier, Isaac did not get an erection Maybe it was because he did not feel the lust that was brewing inside him before. Maybe it was because he can feel the worry and love radiating from Henry earlier. Maybe his feeling towards Henry evolved from merely a lustful longing turned in a deep love for the older guy. Isaac feels like he is truly in trouble now.

“Okay, now I don’t know how you manage to obtain this secret quest information but it seems you two have it. I also don’t know how you intend to finish this quest alone but we have a proposal, why don’t the four of us team up for now and finish the quest together?” Adam offers.

“What?” Henry asks confused. They certainly don’t know what quest or event Adam is talking about. They just accidentally stumbled into this cave, nothing more.

“Don’t be greedy. We all know that the two of you couldn’t even finish the quest alone. And honestly Alice and I can’t either. But if we team up, we might be able to split the quest reward.” Adam adds.

“I don’t think…” Henry starts to say.

“Okay, this is a dumb idea.” Alice adds. “We can do it alone, we don’t need these dumbasses.”

“Well, we need the number Alice, it was easy to defeat the skeleton soldier because it was alone but if they come in pair or horde, we might not be able to take them down if we go alone. You know I am not a melee specialist.” Adam explains in a matter-of-fact kind of way.

“And what? We need that big hulking DILF guy for that?” Alice says mockingly as if she is not aware that Henry can hear her.

“Yes. And the treasure hunter over there can help with the escape and stealth for me.” Adam adds. Henry’s ears perked up at the mention of a treasure hunter. Who are they talking about?

“Whatever, this is your plan. But if this blows over and we die, I will kill you.” Alice says as she crosses her arms in front of her.

“So, for the splitting of rewards, how about this? We all know that Alice and I will do most of the heavy lifting so for the quest item drops, we get 60% of the share and we get to pick first. For the gold rewards, we can split that evenly. How about that?” Adam says with a charming smile. Alice looks at Adam before she smirks and turns to the other two. Henry is not sure if it is a good idea to go with the alliance. But the split of reward sounds great and he needs the gold coins for that. Although he can sense that Adam is keeping something from them.

“Okay. Sure, that sounds great.” Henry finally says. He feels like death would have been an inevitable ending for them in the cave anyway, so why not gamble a bit and maybe they might get something valuable in return.

_Adam invited you to join his party. Do you want to accept?_

Henry looks at the pop-up window and pressed Yes. Isaac did the same thing.

“So, with that out of the way, we have to talk about Classes and character levels, okay?” Alice announced. Isaac chuckles at that and Henry looked at the two awkwardly.


	6. The Hunt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Getting strong - that is the goal. Henry has to get stronger to survive in this world. Isaac happens to like helping him. And the great combat chemistry between Alice and Adam Summers could really help Henry.
> 
> But can they really do it? A treasure hunter, an elemental spellcaster, an assassin and a classless - would they be enough to defeat the creatures in the cave of the undead?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to real life event is purely coincidence. This story contains violence, non-consensual sex and involves an underage character. This story can get pretty dark story, maybe in the future, so be warned.

“Five of them, incoming.” Adam yells as he appears around the corner. He dashes in using a fast shadow short-distance teleportation, coming closer and past where Henry stood. Henry stood his ground, in combat trance and ready to engage the skeleton soldiers in a hand-to-hand combat while Alice is preparing and casting her binding spell.

When the five skeleton soldiers enter the dead-end corner of the cave, Isaac quickly throws in his smoke bombs. Henry charges for the one of the skeleton soldiers while Adam uses the mist to charge at two of the soldiers at the same time. Isaac throws in his explosive bombs to distract the other two from the left side. One even trips his booby trap and is not hanging from the ceiling of the cave.

The skeleton soldiers were not prepared. They have been chasing Adam for a while and they did not expect a head-on offensive attack. They naturally assumed the defensive stance. They would block Adam and Henry’s attack with their swords and tries to counterattack by random slashes. The skeleton soldiers are slashing blindly as they cannot see the two players while in the range of the smoke bomb. Luckily, Adam and Henry can see them because their eyes are glowing bright orange. The other skeleton soldier is also jumping around and avoiding the explosive bombs that Isaac is throwing. While the other one tries to cut himself free from the booby trap.

When Adam and Henry see the glowing pentagram glyph on the ground, it was a sign that Alice is finished casting, so they quickly jumped back. Vines sprouted from the ground, gripping the five skeleton soldiers in place. Isaac aims the Fiery Crossbow towards the monsters and fires. The arrow got one of the skeleton soldiers and it goes in flame. Screeching as if urging the other four to get away or asking for help.

As Isaac reloads the crossbow, Adam shoots the other crossbow, sending another skeleton soldier in flames. Henry sees one of the skeleton soldiers manage to get his arm free and then it uses its sword to slash the vines on his feet to free himself. Isaac shoots another fiery arrow while Adam reloads. This time though it misses the target. The skeleton soldier that got free slashes at the vines of his comrade and frees one of them before Alice could cast another binding spell, entangling the first one in vines again.

 Adam fires his arrow on the third skeleton soldier sending it into another pile of ash. The second skeleton soldier runs and grabs its sword. It turned to Henry before it spotted Isaac. The skeleton soldier then charges towards Isaac who was still reloading his crossbow.

“Isaac…” Henry shouts as he charges to defend the teenager. But the skeleton soldier was fast and was closer. Luckily Alice manages to cast a vine wall to deflect the sword before it hits Isaac.

Adam shots his fiery arrow on the freed soldier but it was able to block the arrow using its sword. It then proceeds to dash towards Adam. Adam quickly teleports near Alice while Henry runs towards the skeleton soldier to engage it in a melee combat. Alice quickly casts another spell but the skeleton soldier manages to evade the vines that are sprouting from the ground. At the same time, it is slashing its sword leaving Henry in a defensive stance. The tangled skeleton soldier is trying to free himself again. Isaac tries to shoot at it again but he misses for the second time. Adam dashes towards Henry and the other skeleton soldier slashing around with extreme speed. Buying time as Alice reinforces the vine binding on the other skeleton soldier. Henry dashes towards the other crossbow and aims it at the tangled monster. Henry fires and did not miss, sending the fourth skeleton monster in flames.

With only one skeleton soldier to focus on, Alice manages to bind the monster’s left leg. When it slashes at the vines, another vine grabs on to the right leg. Adam slashes at the monster distracting it while another vine grabs on its arm. Isaac shoots another arrow at it. He did not miss this time and the monster screeches loud as it bursts in flame and turns into a pile of ash.

After a few minutes of rest and collecting the item drops, the four of them are standing around the pile of dropped items.

“So, what do we have here?” Adam announced as he tossed a ring into the item drops that the other three are circling around.

“Well, at least we have MP potions this time.” Alice adds cheerfully. It is the third day of monster hunting in the cave for them. And Alice is running low on MP potion. That is why it is hard for her to cast one spell after another. She has to make sure that her casting is worth her mana. And having 4 new MP potions for her means she can be more generous with her spell casting.

Henry looked at the pile of loots they got from the five skeleton soldiers. There weren’t plenty. Aside from the 4 medium sized MP potions that Alice ever-so-excitedly mentioned, there weren’t much. There’s a sturdy pants which would probably go to Isaac seeing the rest of them already have it. There’s also a bracelet but the added attribute it still unknown. It doesn’t look promising though. There is also a shield which would probably become handy, but a weapon would have been better for him. There’s 1 medium sized HP potion and 2 small ones. Of course, Henry and Adam took the small ones because they need it most as the melee players. The bigger HP potion goes to Alice because she is the only one that can cast a healing spell using the said item. There are other trash items like Skeleton rib or Rotten bones but none of it is worth the storage space. It will just weigh one down with little to no return as it will just sell at 2 copper coins each.

“This is not bad. At least we have items this time.” Isaac remarked, trying to lighten the mood as Adam looked a bit gloomy.

“You say that because you have new pants this time. My dagger already broke. And the dagger you lend me is close to breaking. Damn, why does item durability have to suck this bad.” Adam complained.

“Well, that is because our items suck.” Alice replies with a giggle as she starts to put her portion of loot into her inventory. Isaac happily equipped his new pants.

“Yeah. Well, you think we can defeat the boss later tonight?” Henry asks.

“The Lich King will be monstrous. I can’t believe we are still considering fighting that thing.” Isaac adds as he picks up the ring and starts to inspect it.

“Well, we can defeat it. But we have to be prepared. The loot is just too good to let go and this version of the Lich King is the weakest among them all. And only us knows about it. We can’t pass this chance.” Adam said simply.

“We thought we were the only ones who knew. I should have known that treasure hunter scammed us and sold the intel to you two.” Alice adds.

“We told you we didn’t know. We just stumbled into this place and got roped into a battle with those skeleton monsters.” Isaac explains.

“Well, I don’t believe you. I bet Henry here, persuade that treasure hunter.” Alice quickly quipped.

“Yeah, maybe in the real world. I bet that treasure hunter is a wimp in the real world and Henry whooped his ass.” Adam adds chuckling.

“Right, what are you two really? Father and son?” Alice asks. Henry almost frowned at that guess.

“No, we met here in the game. That night you two came to save us.” Isaac answers for Henry.

“Oh, that night you bailed on us and left us to deal with those thugs?” Adam adds.

“Yeah that night. You seemed to manage pretty well.” Henry responds with a chuckle. He turned to Isaac. He can sense that the kid knows more about those men that night that what he told henry. But Henry is respecting the kid’s privacy.

“No thanks to you.” Alice adds. “If we weren’t in a party now, I would have whooped your asses. And damn that coward, Benedict. I will beat his ass, the next time we see him.” Alice adds. Adam just laughs at that remark and the other two laughed along with him. But somehow Henry and Isaac knew that Alice was not kidding.

“Anyway, I am just curious, do you really look like this in real life?” Alice asks.

“Alice.” Adam responds in objection. Henry looks at Alice and Adam not sure what the two meant. He turns to Isaac and the teenager looks at him as if he is very much interested with his response.

“I mean, Adam and I are siblings. I am the older one…” She starts to narrate.

“And I am the mature one.” Adam adds, Henry chuckles at that.

“hey, that is uncalled for.” Alice objects.

“Are you two twins?” Henry asks.

“No thanks. I don’t look anything like her.” Adam quipped. Henry chuckles at that. The two does look alike but also looks different.

“Amen to that.” Alice agrees. “I am older and he aged his virtual character up to protect me or something. As if I need protecting.” Alice adds with a smirk. Adam just rolls his eyes. Isaac was shocked at that admission, he never thought that this game has that customizing feature. “But you are not dodging the question.” Alice says, reverting the attention back to Henry.

“I didn’t customize my virtual character.” Henry finally admits, still shocked about the idea of players customizing their characters. But he knows that he should have guessed that character customization is possible in this virtual world, this is a roleplaying game after all.

“Really? Wow.” Isaac responds, breaking his silence. Henry turned to the kid not sure what the kid is trying to imply. Alice just smirks while Adam rolls his eyes.

“So, you are old.” Adam declares when Isaac just remained silent, blushing profusely.

“Not that… Well, I guess.” Henry responds, trying to object but realizing how young his party members are.

“Anyway, so Henry did you level up already?” Adam asks.

“Yeah, I am Level 30 now. Wow. I can’t believe I am already a Level 30…”

“CLASSLESS.” Alice quickly quipped before Henry could finish talking. “Remind me why you did not choose a class again.” Alice asks.

“Well, I told you I can go back to the city to be a treasure hunter for just a bit. And maybe buy us some food, items and potions.” Henry offered again.

“We don’t have the time. You need to level up more than you need a class right now. The Lich King we are going to face is Level 50 at the very least. If that is the case, Alice and I, can handle it theoretically. But anything over Level 65, I don’t think we can handle it. But you two, Level 45 and Level 30, I don’t think you can survive even a colony of Giant Bees.” Adam responds. Isaac almost blushes at the truthfulness behind those words. He thinks they can handle it better now but they certainly cannot handle a whole colony at once.

“Besides, we need a warrior or even a paladin. We don’t need another treasure hunter. Why do you want to be one anyway? Treasure hunters are pretty useless.” Alice declares.

“No offense to me, right?” Isaac offered, wanting to reiterate the fact that he is a treasure hunter. He has been silent lately and the other three noticed that, so Adam chuckles at Isaac’s response.

“Of course.” Adam quickly quipped for his sister. “But aside from smoke bombs and tracking treasures, treasure hunters are useless, especially in battle.” Adam adds. “Besides with your innate skills, paladin suits you better.” Adam adds.

“Well, it’s for a quest.” Henry replies which made Adam and Alice curious. The two are so addicted with quests and events. “A personal quest. Not a game thing.” Henry quickly clarifies. Isaac just listens at the older man, curious even more as the other two just shrugs their shoulder, completely losing their interest.

“So, one more batch of skeleton monsters? Maybe aim for the archers this time. Maybe they got better drops.” Alice recommends, changing the topic before Isaac could pry more about the older man’s personal mission. Adam and Henry smirks at that idea.

“Do you want to be the bait this time?” Adam asks Henry.

“Nah. You are way better at luring than I do. You have the speed. Me? I am classless.” Henry responds with a smile, using Alice’s statement earlier to his advantage. Isaac looks at the older man, curious about what the personal quest he mentioned earlier.

“Okay then.” Adam smiles as he heads out to lure more monsters for the four of them to slay. Alice walks back to her spot and Henry joins Isaac as they head for his hiding spot.

“So, the personal mission, I think I can help.” Isaac suggests. He has been trying to keep his distance from the older man, but he just couldn’t help but pry about that personal quest.

“Oh, sorry. I… I really don’t like talking about it.” Henry announced as he diverts his gaze towards the shield he was carrying around. He is trying his best to avoid the teen’s inquisitive gaze.

“You can tell me. I… I just want to help.” Isaac declares. He felt a bit guilty. He realized at that moment that he is probably asking about it so he can help and maybe inject himself more into the older man’s life. Feeling guilty that he may be doing this not to be a good person but for his own personal gain.

“I know.” Henry replies with a sigh. “Maybe someday.” Henry declares finally. It made Isaac hope. It is not a definite yes but it is not a no either. Henry, on the other hand, feels guilty as well, clearly, he is being a burden to Isaac. And he doesn’t want to take advantage of the young lad’s good nature. He plans to make himself strong enough to do his journey alone and not burden anyone.


	7. The World Quest

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They are finally ready. Or at least Henry hopes they are. The world quest is about to start and they have to finish it.
> 
> But will they be able to make it? What if they discover they have company? Are the newcomers friends... or foes?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to real life event is purely coincidence. This story contains violence, non-consensual sex and involves an underage character. This story can get pretty dark story, maybe in the future, so be warned.

“Here we are. Are you all ready?” Adam asks the other three. Alice smirks at him and raised her eyebrows, seemingly telling him that he is asking a stupid question. It always amazes Henry how blunt Alice can be even without uttering a word.

Henry grips his rusty sword in one hand and an old damaged shield in the other. After all the skeleton creatures they hunted, all the weapon they got were useless weapons. Most doesn’t even match with anyone’s class. Being a classless player, Henry can choose any weapon but some are just useless for him. For example, Henry can equip a beginner’s level staff but it is no use to him because he doesn’t have any spell casting skills. So, he is stuck with the old damaged shield and a rusty sword. Unfortunately, those were the best of the best among his options. After all those efforts, Henry is still unsure if he is ready but he will try his best to see things through. In his mind, he got nothing to lose now.

He turned to everyone. Alice has her staff in hand and her equipment belt loaded of potions for quick use later during battle. Adam is also busy sharpening his cracked dagger. The old dagger he had, got broken during a fight and now all he has is Isaac’s cracked dagger. No matter how many times they kill skeleton creatures in the cave, no dagger was dropped. Henry turns to Isaac with a smile. He sees Isaac checking his inventory, probably counting his traps and bombs, but the boy seemed a bit distracted and tensed.

“Isaac, you okay?” Henry asks as he pat the boy’s shoulder. Isaac’s body jerks back, startled with the sudden contact.

“Oh, yeah. I’m just…” Isaac replies before he realizes that everyone is looking at him. Henry especially. And he can see something in the man’s eyes. Something he can’t quite figure out. Is it attraction? Isaac doesn’t think so. Is it simply care, friendship, worry? Isaac is really not sure. But one thing is certain, Henry cares for him more than Liam ever did. And they only knew each other for days.

“Don’t worry, I am here.” Henry adds as he grabs the boy’s shoulder and pulls him closer. Isaac almost melted. Isaac has been trying his best to keep his attraction towards Henry in check. But somehow the older man always knows what to say and what to do to make him fall in love more. And it hurts to know that the older man is not even trying to do it and probably doesn’t even think of him much.

Isaac’s mind transports back to the nights were everyone is asleep and he is keeping watch. He couldn’t stop his eyes from wandering and memorizing Henry’s sleeping form. The man is hulked up. Not in a “bad steroid ripped body” kind of way, but in a “Damn, he is muscular but not disgustingly ripped” kind of way. All he could think about is how Henry is most probably married to a beautiful sexy woman who bakes for him and makes him want to go home early from work every day. Isaac just knew that Henry is graced with gorgeous kids, running around in their lawn in the back yard as he cozied up with his wife in their patio. All he could think about is how disgusting he is for falling for a happily married guy. Although his mind would keep telling him that Henry’s life can’t be rainbows and unicorns because he is playing a virtual game like he is. Yet the thought of such a remarkable and dashing stud like Henry having a terrible real life seems so absurd and impossible to him.

To be fair though, Isaac was half correct. Henry’s life was full of rainbows and unicorns before the accident. Henry knew that he was the most blessed guy in the world then. But in one quick instant everything crumbles and his world caved on him. And now he is nothing but a remnant of the happy fellow he was, desperately grabbing into the last bit of hope he has.

“I know. Don’t worry. I can do my job.” Isaac replies, trying to divert the attention away from him. Deep inside though, he feels depressed. Somehow, the sweeter and more caring Henry is to everyone, especially him, the more he wants to withdraw back into a cocoon. He feels like if he let himself feel things, it will be harder for him when Henry finally leaves. And somehow, he knows that Henry leaving is an inevitable fate.

Henry looks at Isaac. He can feel that the boy is holding back something. He notices that the kid seemed more distant. They may not have known each other for so long but he feels like the boy is acting strange. It is as if the boy is trying to keep himself excluded somehow. And Henry feels guilty. He can sense that it is his fault, especially when the kid can’t even look him in the eye lately. He means to talk to the kid after this quest is over.

“You better kiddo.” Adam responds.

“Oh, shut up. You are just as old as him, Adam. You just aged up your virtual character.” Alice remarks chuckling. Adam just rolls his eyes at his sister’s response.

“So, we are here right? Where is the… Lich King was it?” Isaac asks.

“Well, that… we do not know.” Adam responds with a confused look. He must be as clueless as the rest of them. The intel they got said that the Lich King will appear in many maps across the land of Crystal Utopia. Different versions of the Lich King with different levels in many places across the whole virtual world. And the lowest level was said to appear in the Cave of the Undead. They had to squeeze that information out of a treasure hunter ‘friend’ though. Only them knew about that and the sibling is counting on it. They heard that the Lich King will give out a very rare item drop. Whatever it will be, it can be useful to them or maybe it will sell for a good price. The rest of the boss drop are trivial to them. However, they were also told it was just a rumor from last year’s event and was never confirmed but the sibling decides that it is worth the try.

“Maybe the event has not started yet. If that is the case, then we better prepare before it starts.” Alice replies. “Are your bombs and traps ready, Isaac?” she asks.

“I… I think so.” Isaac replied a bit taken aback at Alice’s commanding tone.

“Well, you are coming with me. Let’s set the trap. You two, start scouting. We don’t need a surprise appearance of other monsters. That would make things more complicated.” Alice says before she starts walking. Isaac quickly follows, happy that at the very least, he will not be working in close proximity to Henry for the time being.

A few minutes later, traps were set and the place was well scouted. The four of them meet again in a hidden spot, waiting for the Lich King to appear. But nothing came. Alice is starting to get bored.

Adam is sitting there looking at his cracked dagger. Maybe praying to all the gods that his only weapon would not break. Isaac is busy counting the remaining bombs in his inventory, trying to familiar himself with what he has so he knows just how much help he can give. He was a little useful when he was manning the fiery crossbow. It was a weapon that is lethal to the skeleton monsters. But now, that crossbow might not work, so, he will have to rely on his bombs and traps more.

Henry, on the other hand, is quiet. He is in deep thought. Thinking about what he went through this past few days. He was here to find his son. He has no intention to play the game. But as it turns out, he will have to play the game to get a chance to meet his son. And given his lack of knowledge about the game, coupled with his pride that tells him he can figure things out on his own, he would still be in the city now, still poor, still very much low-level and working a job for the local to earn for food, shelter and for the map. This virtual world is not far the real world, in that regard.

He is just so thankful that he met Isaac, few days ago. He was glad that he was stupid enough to pick a fight against those four higher level players. But he gained a friend that day. Ever since then, he has been lucky. He met and is now teaming up with the Summers siblings. And now they are ready to ambush a mob boss. He turns to Isaac who looked so focused on his inventory. Henry can see a little bit of his son in the kid. It amazes him how few days ago, he was planning to stick with the kid for a bit, just to get his footing in this game, then maybe leave afterwards. Now, he thinks of the kid as friend. A man in his mid-forties and a teenager, what a weird friendship, Henry realizes. He chuckles at the thought.

He looks at Isaac and finds himself wondering how Isaac would be in real life. Is he as hyperactive as he is in the virtual world? Though the kid is a bit distant lately, he is still as bubbly as he was at times. Does he also have the same cute quirks? Does he have the same mole in the corner of his left eye? Does he have the same smile and that dimple below his mouth? Does he look the same way as in the virtual realm? Does the kid live near him in real life? It would fun to meet the kid in person and maybe talk about some game strategies, right? Henry chuckles to himself as he realizes how strange his mind went with that. It would even seem creepy if he did ask Isaac where he lives.

“I am going to fuck that guy’s life.” Alice declares finally, breaking the silence. Adam chuckles at that. Henry turns to Alice and indeed, Alice looks angry.

“Calm down, Alice. The Lich King will come.” Adam responds.

“Well, we have been waiting for more than an hour now. When will that freaking monster appear? I mean, Isaac’s traps have been triggered by skeleton monsters twice now, and we have dealt with that before that damn Lich King appears. But… Still no Lick fucking King.” Alice exclaimed angrily.

“Shush guys.” Isaac quickly says. He dropped his bag and stayed still. The siblings didn’t hear him though and continued talking. “Somebody’s here.” Isaac announced a little higher than before. And yet the other two still continued bantering about how the Lich King is not punctual.

Henry dropped his weapon and covered the Alice’s mouth who is much closer to him than Adam. Adam was taken aback and gripped his dagger ready to attack Henry if needed but when he sees that Henry is looking at the open area of the cave, he stood down and remained silent.

In the open area, a group of players entered. Seven players to be exact. Henry moved closer to the edge of the boulder where they were hiding. The other three did the same. They see that the new team is mostly made up of warriors. Two players were carrying swords. The other two are carrying hammers. Two players seemed to be spellcasters. The last one is a bit tricky but based on how intent he is in looking at walls, floors and ceilings of the cave, he seemed to be a treasure hunter. All seven of them looked well equipped and prepared. They look more battle ready for the Lich King.

“I thought…” Henry whispered as he turned to the Summers siblings. But he stopped, judging from the look on Adam and Alice, they seem to know what is going on.

“That bastard, Benedict. I knew he was up to something. That treacherous trickster. Mother-fucking stupid ass treasure hunter.” Adam announced between gritted teeth. Alice grab his brother’s fisted hands. His knuckles look white with anger.

“Shush. We are going to get back at him but we can’t just rush in there.” Alice quickly agrees.

“Guys, something is happening. Three of them is gone.” Isaac announced. Henry and the rest peeked again to see. They noticed that the two spellcasters and one warrior with a sword is gone.

“The spellcasters are at their assigned areas, right?” The treasure hunter, Benedict, announced. “The Lich King will appear soon we have to get…” he announced before he froze. He smirks as he kneels down. Isaac looked intently as Benedict reaches down and touches the rope of his trap but not triggering it. The man starts tinkering, and Isaac can tell that the guy is disarming his traps.

“Yeah, I thought those Summer Siblings were here. I thought they…” One of the guys announced.

“They are.” Benedict answers with a smirk. “They are here alright. And they found a friend of their own. A treasure hunter, I believe.” Benedict chuckles as he got up. He smirks as he starts looking around the cave. “This is unexpected. Watch out guys, they are here, although I am not sure where.”

“He disarmed my trap.” Isaac announced. Adam and Alice just looked pissed at that. Henry knew how much time they spent to set the trap for the Lich King and the newcomers just disarmed it easily.

“Where? I want to teach those kids a lesson.” The remaining swordsman in the newcomer’s group announced as if the news excites him. Isaac trembles as he realized who it was. It was Kevin. Henry realizes that one of the hammer warriors are also from that night he saved Isaac. Well, at least try to until the Summer siblings came and finished the job for him.

“Who the fuck are those bastards?” Alice announced.

“I don’t know. Who do they think they are for having that vendetta against us?” Adam agreed enthusiastically.

“Well, they were sort of the same guys you attacked when you helped us... that night?” Henry offers.

“What?” Adam exclaimed.

“Oh? And they want revenge?” Alice asks as if the idea is too pathetic.

“Well, maybe it has something to the fact that you were lower levels than they are and you managed to defeat them.” Isaac offered. Henry scooted closer to put his arm over the Isaac’s shoulders. Isaac looked shaken after seeing those guys again. And Henry felt like he should at least try to comfort him. Isaac on the other hand, wants to shove the older man away. He feels like he is betraying Henry. Henry is clueless how his actions, albeit innocent, is laced with malice in his eyes. But at the moment, he couldn’t help but melt in Henry’s arms.

Alice chuckles at Isaac blunt respond. “That is true.” He adds.

“Well, we could have showed them again how we did it. But we are out-numbered. And I want to kick that Benedict’s ass more.” Alice adds.

“Touché.” Adam agrees.

“Guys, maybe you forgot that we are cornered here. They know we are here. And the Lich King will appear soon.” Henry adds.

“Touché.” Alice agrees. “Well, we do need a plan now.” She adds before a loud explosion happened just a few feet away from them. Henry quickly jumps towards Isaac to cover the boy from the flying debris, protecting the Isaac with his own body. Isaac just yelps in shock. His mind is hyperactive but somehow it quickly jumped into what is currently happening. Henry is so close to him. The older man’s body weight is pushing him down on the cave ground. And despite his better judgment, he felt his cock stir even at this dangerous situation. And when he took a deep breath to calm himself down, the older man’s manly scent invades his nose and only made him even harder. Luckily for Isaac, the older man doesn’t seem to be aware of his current predicament.

“There you are.” Benedict cheers. The rest of his squad turning towards them. The warriors grip their much more durable and much stronger weapons. And what’s worse is that the spellcaster of the opposing team is nowhere to be seen and can definitely attack them at any time.

“Fuck.” Adam announced before he disappears into the shadows of the cave.

“Defend me.” Alice announced as the pentagram glows and appears below her. Henry quickly got up. He looked at Isaac and was pleased to see that the boy was left unscathed, albeit startled and blushing somehow. He then grabs his shield and sword, and moved in front of Alice. After recovering from his initial shock, Isaac got up and grabbed unto his bag of bombs.

Benedict’s maniacal laugh echoes in the cave. Kevin looking shocked and pleased at the sight of Isaac and the guy who saved him. Then out of nowhere, bigger pentagram circles appear below them and thunder clouds appear in the ceiling of the cave. Kevin smirks as he marvels at the reaction of Henry, and especially Isaac’s terrified face.

“Oh, your brother left you to fend for yourself, little sister?” Kevin announced teasingly, chuckling like a maniac.

“Let’s finish this before the Lich King appears.” Benedict declares like dealing with them was more of a nuisance than a goal, which probably is true.

A lightning bolt appears from the storm clouds, striking the ground where the three of them stood. Henry was quick to jump back and so was Alice, Isaac on the other hand is a bit slow to react and was thrown to the cave wall due to the explosion.

“Isaac…” Henry runs towards Isaac. Another lightning bolt strikes at him but Alice manages to create a vine wall to absorb the attack. The vines burn to crisp as the lightning struck. Vines start sprouting on the ground below Kevin, Benedict and his friends. The vines form spikes attacking them. Kevin quickly moved to defend Benedict with his shield while the other warrior slams his hammer on the ground stumping the vines. Alice manages to inflict damage on the fourth guy though, but barely.

“Are you okay?” Henry asks. Seeing that Isaac’s HP dropped to 81% is both alarming and comforting. It is comforting because they have already become a bit stronger. Yet based on the amount of damage inflicted it means that the enemy team is still much stronger.

Another bolt of lightning appears. Henry saw it coming but he knows that Isaac is still slow and can’t evade it. He lifts his shield up hoping that at the very least the shield will lessen the damage, it didn’t. Henry can feel the jolt of electricity travel in his body, making his body spasm uncontrollably. The sight terrifies Isaac into action. He threw his smoke bomb masking them from the opponents. Henry fell on the ground, spent and hurt after taking the full brunt of the attack. His HP dropping to 64% in just one attack.

Alice spot another lightning bolt coming and quickly manage to cast a vine wall spell to protect the two. Isaac manages to snap out of it and helped Henry up. A pentagram circle glows below them and Isaac was ready to fight whatever is coming but when green glowing light surrounds them and their HP starts rising again, he sighs with relief.

“They have a healer.” Kevin announced. “There’s a fifth member.” He adds quickly, surveying the place to look for the said fifth member.

“That’s Alice. She got that rare elemental skill as a special quest reward.” Benedict quickly corrected.

“That’s cheating.” The other warrior remarked before bombs roll below them. The four quickly jumped back before Isaac’s explosives go off. But they were met with vine spikes from where they were going to land. Benedict was quick to evade the attacks. Treasure Hunters, especially the good ones, are masters of intelligence and agility attributes. Kevin tries to block the vines with his shield but another vine spike was aimed as his shoulders and the attack landed. The other two warriors were also hit. Their HP drops by 10%. Among the four of them, Alice has the best weapon. Her weapon is a bit rare with special attribute bonuses that adds damage to her attacks. In addition to that, Alice also added a poison effect on her attack so their HP gradually decreases over time. But none of it mattered just then, because a pentagram circle starts to glow below them. Bright yellow light envelopes their bodies and their HP went back up to 100% in no time. The poison debuff is also gone in just a blink of an eye.

“Fucking priests.” Alice remarks, just before another lightning bolt strikes at their feet. All three of them barely manages to evade that sudden attack. “That lightning caster really is a pain in the ass.” She exclaims.

“Gaaaahhhh…” a loud scream came roaring from the field. Henry then saw Kevin charging towards Isaac. Kevin sword is in flames and the man is levitating in the air like he is flying towards Isaac with his sword ready to stab him. Isaac, on the other hand, was late to realize that an attack is coming. Henry dashes forward with his shield ready, he just knows that Isaac will be too slow to react and avoid the attack. Henry barely manages to push Isaac away and raise his shield to defend. Isaac came tumbling on the ground while the impact of the attack shatters Henry’s shield into pieces and send Henry flying the opposite direction. It was a superior attack and taking the full force of it sends Henry’s HP down to 16%.

“Fuck.” Alice exclaims as she continues to avoid the continuous bombarding of lightning bolts directed towards her. “Guys, a little help.” She announced as the one of enemy warriors starts charging at her. And she is left trying to avoid the attacks without having enough time to cast a spell for counterattack. Besides casting a spell in this situation is extra bit more difficult when her feet barely touch the ground before she has to just and evade another attack again.

But of course, both Henry and Isaac were a bit preoccupied. The other warrior charges at them. Henry manages to stop the attack with his own sword. Kevin slashes at Isaac but this time Isaac manages throw his smoke bomb in time to avoid Kevin’s attack. Then as he jumps back to avoid the slash of Kevin’s sword, he left an explosion bomb in his place which explodes at the contact of Kevin’s sword.

“Aaaahhhh…” Alice screams as the she was hit by the opponent’s hammer. The impact of the attack sends her flying until she lands a few feet away, on the ground. “Fuck” she muttered as her HP drops to 32%. She had been evading the lightning strikes but the hammer attacks are a bit tricky. She is a bit slow especially with melee combat. And physical damage hurts her HP more because her innate magic resistance will not defend her.

“Gotcha.” The big hulking guy wielding the hammer smirks before he dashes towards Alice with a follow up attack. Alice sends spikey vines towards his way but the guy easily evades it and without skipping a beat continued charging at her. It was too late to evade the attack now. Alice knew that even if he tries to cast a spell now, she won’t make it in time. She braced herself for the impact and prayed that it would not kill her.

The guy smirks as he looks at Alice’s face while he charges at her. Alice looked tough but he can see that she had already resigned to her fate. He can almost taste the victory in his mouth. But out of the blue, a dark figure appears behind him and then she was gone. His realization came late and his momentum sends him crashing towards the cave wall. The impact makes that section of the cave shake. Then just as quickly vines starts sprouting from the ground and starts attacking him before he could stand back up. The vine spikes pierced through his body in multiple places. His HP quickly drops low and it continues to drop as the poison and bleeding debuff starts to take effect.

“Fuck, someone help Allan.” Benedict announced. Just then vines starts to sprout below him and he had quickly jumped back and threw his explosive bombs, blasting the vines in tiny pieces before it could form into spikes to attack him. At that same instant, Adam appears in front of Allan, the guy being pierced by Alice’s spikey vines. He could barely react before Adam attacked with his slashing combo. At the end of Adam’s last slash, his dagger breaks just before Allan’s HP drops to 0%.

“Fuck” he manages to say before he collapsed on the ground. A faint blink of light left his body, indicating his death.

Adam turns to Henry and Isaac and he sees that the two are still engaged in battle. Henry is fighting sword to hammer with his opponent. Henry is trying his best not to get hit by any attack because he knows that a single hit would mean death for him. Isaac, on the other hand, is having a hard time with Kevin. Luckily, Kevin doesn’t seem to be very smart and is easily provoked. At the moment, Kevin is inside a dark mist, slashing blindly around. Isaac is jumping around and attacking him from a distance. Whenever Kevin would close in, Isaac would jump back again, throw a smoke bomb to his destination and an explosive bomb from where he was. It is a good plan, Kevin’s HP is gradually lowering with every hit, but it is not fast enough. And Isaac’s bomb supply is quite limited and is nearing that said limit.

“Where the fuck is our priest?” Benedict responds before the second swordsman appear from the shadows. He is wounded with only half of his HP. He is carrying one of the casters with him. He turns to Benedict with extreme guilt.

“What…” Benedict starts to say before he turns to Adam. He grits his teeth with anger as he sees the smug smirk on Adam’s face. His gaze turns to Alice and then it registers to him that Alice is casting a spell. Based on the casting duration, Benedict predicts that it must be a big one. His gaze quickly looked down and sees the pentagram circle below glow, looking much bigger than before.

“Fall back.” he shouts just before giant thorny vines starts spouting from the ground, attacking everyone. Isaac was in mid-air trying to avoid Kevin’s slash when Adam appeared behind him, then just as quick they teleported to where Alice stood. Henry manages to evade the giant vine which hit the guy wielding the hammer square in the face. Knocking the guy back into another giant thorny vine growing before him. Kevin and Benedict have excellent reflexes. Benedict with his mid-tier treasure hunter skill avoids the vines easily. Kevin manages to slash and slice the giant thorny vines that heads his way. The other two were about done replenishing their HP with HP potion when the attack came. The spell caster manages to cast his lightning spell, striking every vine that heads her way. The other swordsman jumps and slashes around but ended up crashing into the spellcaster in the process. That short time window was enough for a giant thorny vine to hit them both sending them away in opposite directions.

As Alice’s spell starts to fade, she casts a healing spell for his allies, gradually increasing their HP. Kevin sees what she was going to do so he charges at them. His sword goes in flame as it leads the way as his body levitates heading towards the Summers siblings in a fast speed. With Adam’s weapon broken, he had no way to defend his sister and Isaac so before she could fully heal the party, Adam had to teleport her and Isaac to safety, ending her healing spell in the process. They reappeared behind a big boulder. Seeing that his target teleported away, Kevin redirects his attack towards Henry. He did not even land back on the ground, he just diverts his momentum towards Henry.

Henry stood there with his now cracked rusty sword. He knows he can’t avoid that attack now. He also knows that his sword can’t block the attack and his HP is not yet high enough to take a major hit. The other three from Henry’s party are helplessly watching the thing happen before them. Just when it seems all hope is lost for Henry, something happened. Dark shadow suddenly envelops the cave. Henry took that dark shadow mist as a chance to evade the attack. But as he evades one attack, another one meets him.

Everyone was caught off guard. No one within the attack range was able to avoid the shadow spikes that sprouts out from the ground in quick pace. Even the advanced environment awareness and detection passive skill of a mid-tier treasure hunter cannot foresee and sense it. Benedict was pierced by three shadow spikes. Two on his left leg and one on his back. Kevin suffers the same damage. The spellcaster and the other swordsman was also damaged significantly. The spellcaster was stabbed by the shadow spikes on his arms and legs. The other swordsman was less fortunate. His head was pierced by the shadow spikes, just like his body. Judging from the flash of faint light that came after, the guy was a goner. Henry on the other hand, was pierced by only one shadow spike. But it hit him in between his chest and pierced his body through and through. His HP dropping to 24%. The other three from his party is safe though. They are still in shock and hiding behind the boulder. They were not within the range of the attack.

As if that is bad enough, everyone feels like their strength is getting sucked out of their body, along with their HP. A creature emerges at the middle of the dark shadow mist. A humanoid figure but taller than any man in the world, alive or dead. It is covered with full armor. The silvery metal plates of the armor glistening in the light of the cave. The creature is wearing a helmet that covers his face, but his red fiery eyes pierces through and sends chills down everyone’s spine.

“The Lich King is here” Benedict exclaims. His declaration sent shiver down everyone’s spines, urging them to make a move. He looks down to the shadow spike piercing his body and realized that it somehow solidified. Now it looks like black crystallized spikes that has grown all over the place. He hits the crystal spike with his dagger, shattering it and freeing himself. “Gaaahhh….” He yelps as freeing himself caused an additional damage. His HP dropping down to 43%. The others saw it and chugged down an HP potion before breaking the shadow spikes that are piercing them.

All eyes are on the arrival of the world boss now. Will they survive?


	8. The Lich King

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the two teams fighting each other, how can they deal with the World Boss - Lich King showing up. Will the two teams join forces? Will they fight each other while fighting the Lich King? Can they even win?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a work of fiction. Any similarity to real life event is purely coincidence. This story contains violence, non-consensual sex and involves an underage character. This story can get pretty dark story, maybe in the future, so be warned.

“ _Good Day, everyone. I have come to grace the land of Utopia with my presence._ ” The chilling words of the Lich King echoes in the cave. “ _Oh, are you one of the sacrifices?_ ” the Lich King declares. His tone gives away his interest at the matter at hand.

“Fuck you, asshole. We are the ones that will shove your monster sized ego up your ass.” Benedict spat back. His squad gets into combat ready mode and move behind him to back him up. All three of them.

“ _Ahhh… You are funny. Such hopeful sacrificial lambs you all are. I love snuffing the hope you have left in your puny little existence._ ” The Lich King answers back roaring with laughter afterwards. If Alice was not busy trying to think of ways to kill said monster, she would have given it her badge of approval for that wonderful comeback.

“Guys, the countdown has started. MOVE.” Benedict shouts at his teammates.

“But Allan, Ja…” said the spellcaster.

“MOVE. Elliot, you are with me.” Benedict repeats himself, shutting the rest up. He knows fully that if they don’t make their move now, everything they did was in vain. And they will die horrible deaths without even trying to fight back. Everyone snapped back to the situation at hand. They may not know how dire their situation is but they know that they have to fight back and win this quest.

“ _Oh, you are such an annoying bunch. Why did I get the short end of the stick here? I have to put up with low-level creatures like you are while they play with the high-level ones. Come on, my luck is so bad._ ” The Lich King announced like he is some teenager complaining about having to mow the lawn for his parents – but if he is, he is one powerful teenager in a tantrum.

The spell caster quickly moved to the back and starts casting a spell. Kevin moves in front of him to defend him. Elliot, the one with the hammer moves to the left and Benedict on the right. They start charging at the Lich King.

“ _You, insolent human._ ” The Lich King roars in anger before shadows starts to form spikes towards Benedict and Elliot. Benedict sensed the attack this time and he manages to evade it. And when the shadowy spikes solidify, he then used that as his stepping point to jump on and attack the Lich King. He is going for the Lich King’s head. Elliot, on the other, hand slams his hammer on the shadow attack, clearing it away and then swings his hammer at the Lich King’s leg.

Then, out of the blue, black flaming aura radiates out of the Lich King’s body, expelling everything and everyone near him. Sending both Elliot and Benedict before their attacks could land. The Lich King’s laughter roars. Elliot lands on the ground with a loud bang, while Benedict manages to land smoothly. And without skipping a bit, they charge towards the Lich King again. This time the Lich King swings his giant sword at them and the two masterfully evades it.

As the fight ensues, Henry remained impaled in place. Any movement he makes hurts, and his HP is so low that he is afraid that the damage of breaking the shadow spike will kill him. Besides, he was impaled too close to his heart. He remains clueless on what to do now. But he is glad that at the very least, the rest of his party is safe.

“What are we waiting for?” Isaac urges hurriedly. He, along with Alice and Adam, remained behind the boulder. The Summers siblings are not sure how to handle the situation. They were planning to defeat the Lich King alone but now that they see it, that quest seems impossible.

“We can’t. That Lich King is more high level than we expected.” Alice remarks. She grips her staff unsure and for the first time, she looked worried and a bit scared.

“And I have no weapon.” Adam adds. That one is correct; an assassin can’t fight without any weapon. Isaac kicks himself in the head for not bringing that old sword loot they had two days before. He just knew that it would be heavy in his inventory and that it won’t sell as much as it weighs in the market.

“But we can’t leave Henry like that. He needs our help guys.” Isaac mutters. He looks at Henry, still in the field. The older man is still impaled with that crystalized shadow spike and he can tell that the Lich King is sucking the life out of the man.

“I know, let me think.” Alice exclaims as she rakes her brain for any idea. Anything at all that could help them survive this.

“Come on.” Isaac adds, pressuring them to act now. He knows that if they don’t do anything soon, then Henry will die. He knows that the older man will probably respawning a few days or so, but he just can stand to see the guy suffer like this, or die horribly. Maybe it has something to do with how he hasn’t been out of the Rosenburg City much. Or maybe it is because as he watches the love of his life suffer like this, he feels like a knife has been stabbed to his heart and is being twisted around.

“Shut up. We can’t just charge in. That is a Level 100 Lich King.” Adam declares. Isaac just shakes his head before he dashes out of their hiding place and run towards Henry.

“Damn it.” Adam exclaims. “Now that Lich King knows we are here.”

“Protect me.” Alice declares before she stands up. She slams the bottom of her staff on the ground and a pentagram circle starts to glow below her. It grew and then green light starts to envelop Henry. His HP starts to climb yet not as fast as the Lich King is just sucking it away and using it to power its attacks.

As Isaac was running towards Henry, he only has one objective in mind – to help Henry. So, when a wounded Elliot came flying his way, he did not see it. His realization warned him too late, just seconds before the wounded Elliot slams into him, sending them both to the ground.

With only Benedict attacking the Lich King, it was not distracting enough. It saw the spell caster chanting a spell and it quickly caught on, realizing what Benedict’s group had in mind – distract before they attack. It attacks the spellcaster which Kevin quickly blocks and deflects. The Lich King continues to attack both Kevin and Benedict.

Benedict starts using his explosive bombs. His bombs are of higher grade than Isaac so it would deal more damage, along with some debuffs. He throws his bomb while attack with his dagger, going as swift as a treasure hunter can, but not as fast as an assassin.

“Fight or stay away.” Elliot exclaims at Isaac as he gets up. He shakes his head at the boy before he dashes towards the Lich king again. Isaac quickly got up and run to Henry as well.

“Are you okay?” Isaac asks as his eyes goes to the crystallized shadow spike that is impaling the man’s chest. It looks severe but no blood is coming out of the wound. It is as if the blood is being sucks by the crystallized shadow spike and into the Lich King.

“We need to get you out of this.” Isaac declares when Henry did not even answer. It pains Isaac to see that Henry is this hurt.

The Lich King is attacking both Elliot and Benedict with a combination of sword slashes and his shadow spikes. At the same time, it is also trying to attack the spellcaster while Kevin tries his best to defend against the attacks. The Lich King also saw Isaac and it starts attacking the boy, too. Isaac manages to evade the attack. It is hard enough to avoid the attack at it is so, helping Henry would have to wait for now.

“They are doing something.” Alice notes as she casts her spell summoning her vine spikes to counterattack the shadow attack of the Lich King.

“I know. I don’t think we can do this alone. Should we help?” Adam asks. Alice knows that his brother is asking her to help, because currently he is almost useless without his weapon. She just shakes her head because she knew that somehow that is the only way to survive this.

“NOW.” The spellcaster shouts behind Kevin. Benedict quickly jumped back, throwing a bomb in the process to distract the Lich King. Elliot tries to jump back. But as he was in mid-air, Lich King attacks him with his shadows again. This time the shadow attack did not turn into spikes. It remains in its shadow form yet somehow solid enough to grip Elliot’s feet, binding him in place. As he forces himself to jump again, the shadow grip becomes stronger and pulls him to the ground.

“AAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!” Elliot’s scream echoes in the cave as shadow spikes below pierces through Elliot’s body.

A giant pentagram circle glows below the Lich King, then it just fades away in a puff. The Lich King chuckles at that as he stabs another crystallized shadow spike through Elliot’s body, dropping the guy’s HP down to 14%.

“CARTER, DO IT!” Benedict screams at the spellcaster who seemed hesitant to cast the attack spell with their party member within the range of his attack. The guy closes his eyes, contemplating if he should really do it. But finally, he realized that they might not have another chance like this. And it has to be now, or they all die.

“Fang of the Gods.” Carter, the spellcaster, shouts. The Lich King looked shocked at that. It looks up just as the giant pentagram appears overhear. Alice gasps in shock at this sight.

“What the… That is not possible.” Alice exclaims as she struggles to wrap her mind around the fact of a pentagram circle glowing overhead. As far as she knows, those spell casting can only be performed by Level 150 players and up. And as far as she knows, that lightning spellcaster is just around Level 80 or so.

The Lich King was shocked at the level of the spell that was casted to attack him. But due to the delay of the attack it manages to move before a column of giant light blasts from the giant pentagram circle in the sky. A white light blinds everyone as a loud screech sounds echoes in the cave. A loud boom follows, then strong winds blew from the impact of the attack.

Readjusting after that big blinding attack took some time. Isaac and Henry who stood near the attack can still hear that painful ringing in their ears. As the dust starts to settle, everyone can a giant crater in the middle of the cave floor. But what really sent shivers down their spine is the Lich King that is still standing in the middle of the crater. The Lich King looked hurt though, badly hurt. Half of its torso is missing along with one of its arms. His wound exudes dark smoky aura instead of blood.

“ _Ungrateful imbeciles._ ” The Lich King roars as he swings his sword and slam it on the ground. From the point of impact, the ground starts rising, forming spikes that points practically everywhere and it is moving. It is forming more spikes as it heads towards Kevin and Carter. The two manages to evade the attack, umping back and going opposite directions.

At this point Henry had freed himself from being impaled and has taken his HP potion, increasing his HP up to 63%. Isaac is also drunk his HP potion and his HP is now at 89%.

“We need to help them.” Alice announced. The statement hurts her pride and under any other circumstance, she would not have thought of doing this. But she knew with the Lich King’s power, the only thing that might work is to work together.

The Lich King once again attacks the spellcaster Carter. This time though, Kevin is not there to help him. Carter manages to evade the first attack but it just keeps coming. Casting a spell is impossible at his situation now, and one misstep can send him flying to oblivion. Benedict charges at the Lich King and so did Kevin. They are trying their best to distract the Lich King and needing it to focus its attack on them and not on Carter. But the Lich King manages to block their attacks, counterattack and still continue attacking Carter.

“Henry, Isaac, help them distract the Lich King.” Alice announced as he starts to cast her spell, sending vines towards the Lich King too. Henry got up and trusted Alice, charging towards the Lich King. Isaac did the same, grabbing at his bombs and ready to throw them towards the Lich King. His bomb attacks may not inflict damage to the Lich King but they would at least distract it somehow.

“He needs to cast that spell again.” Alice told Adam referring to Carter. Just then, the Lich King plunges its sword on the ground and dark smoky shadows starts to spent and envelop his body. Without even making contact with his attackers, his sudden burst of dark aura sends his attacker flying away. Isaac and Benedict lands on the cave ground with a loud thud, their HP drops significantly. As Henry is still in mid-air being thrown away, dark shadows grab his feet and pulls him towards the Lich King. The same thing happens to Kevin.

“ _You will pay for what you did to me._ ” The Lich King announced before shadow spikes sprouts from the ground and impales both Kevin and Henry, making the two men scream in pain.

“Stop.” Isaac screams as the kid charges at the Lich King. The Lich King sees him and hurls Kevin towards him. Isaac was too late to react. Kevin’s body hits him and both of them stumbled to the ground like a domino piece falling into another one. The Lich King then sends giant shadow spikes towards Carter and the poor spellcaster could not avoid it. He can see the attack coming but he is still busy trying to avoid the other attacks of the Lich King. Then just as the giant shadow spikes reaches Carter, Adam was there to teleport him away, avoiding the attack. The two reappears to the side.

“Cast the spell again, we will protect you.” Adam announces referring to his sister on the other side of the cave, ready to cast her spells to defend the two. The Lich King looks at them angry.

“I can’t. It’s a one-use item. I can’t cast that spell again.” Carter regretfully answers. Adam did not have enough time to react as the Lich King hurls another attack at them. Alice manages to block the shadow attacks with her vine spells though, which makes the Lich king even angrier. The Lich King then did something unexpected. It hurls its giant sword towards Adam and Carter. Carter was just about to cast a lightning attack spell when Adam quickly grab his hand. But just as he was going to teleport them away, they couldn’t more. Looking down, Adam saw that shadow mist is gripping and grabbing his feet in place. He turns and sees the Lich King’s sword flying towards them.

Alice quickly stumps her staff on the ground and vines starts to sprout from the ground forming a wall of vine in front of Adam and Carter. Alice did not stop there, she continues to create more layers of vine walls to protect her brother. She was too focused on protecting her brother that she did not notice the dark shadow lurking behind her. The shadow then turns into spikes and pierces through Alice’s body.

“Aaaaaahhhh…” Alice screams as more than a hundred of tiny needle-like spikes pierced through her body from her back. Her HP dwindles quickly. She turns to her brother and she regretfully witnesses the Lich King’s sword pierce through the thick walls of vine she summoned to protect her brother. The sword pierces through both Adam and Carter before dark shadow seeps out of the sword and starts to envelop the two.

“AAAAAHHHHH…” Alice screams again as she feels her strength being sucked out of her. Her HP dwindles down even more. Her vision starts to turn to black, watching her brother being swallowed by the dark shadows surrounding the sword.

Kevin stand up again. Isaac lying on the ground a few feet away, probably unconscious. Kevin’s HP is low now and he realized that he has no HP potion left. He regrets how they entrusted the whole healing part on the priest in their party. The same priest that Adam managed to assassinate earlier. Kevin sees his friend Carter, being enveloped by the dark shadow. He shakes his head regretful as he sees the life being sucked out of his friend. Quick faint flashes of light coming from his friend, Carter and his Summer brother nemesis, Adam, indicate that the two of them are most definitely dead. He just knew that running away right now is not an option. And if he is going to die, he would at least try to fight back. He starts charging towards the Lich King again.

The whole time that the Lich King was attacking the rest of them, Benedict was busy setting up his trap. Now he is ready to attack. He charges at the Lich King with his dagger in hand, slashing towards the Lich King, aiming for the eyes. But then the Lich King just raises his hand in the air and both Benedict and Kevin suddenly freezes against their will. Their body then floats in the air as a red bubble of aura engulfs them. They can feel every bit of their strength being sucked out of them.

Isaac woke up to this. He turns to see Adam, and sees that he is already dead. He turns to the other side of the cave and sees the limp body of Alice lying on the cave floor, bleeding. Her HP has also already dropped to 0%. He turns towards Henry’s body still being gripped around with shadows, forming hands that are pulling him down. Isaac can see Henry’s HP dropping down to 12% and continues to dwindle down. Henry looks to be in pain and trying to get himself free. Henry has no weapon in hand though. And being a classless, he doesn’t have character skills either. Isaac figures that the Lich King is busy with Benedict and Kevin. He knows his HP is low now but he should at least try to help Henry.

Henry sees Isaac running towards him. He can feel his heart beating fast. He wants to shout for the kid to run away and leave him behind. But he knew that doing so will just attract the Lich King’s attention. He turns to the angry Lich King and then his gaze turns to Kevin and Benedict inside that weird red bubble. He can see the two gasping and grasping their chest. He can see veins popping out of their now red faces. It is as if they are gasping for air. He then hears the Lich King's laughter roar, just as faint lights flash inside the red bubble. The sight alarmed him because he knew that Isaac will be the next target now that the other two were dead.

“RUN.” He screams towards Isaac. Then everything around him goes in slow motion. He watches Isaac running towards him, then Isaac starts to float in the air. He witnessed terror in the young kid's face as the kid’s body starts to be enveloped in a red bubble.

“NO.” He screams as he tries his best to free himself. His work seemed to work for a bit before the black shadow hands doubled in number, pulling him back in place. Henry felt helpless as he watches Isaac start to gasp for air. He watches as his friend's HP dwindles down. In that moment, his mind starts to see his son and not Isaac. His son screaming for him to help. His son begging for him to save him. But his struggles were futile, helplessly watching Isaac's HP drop to 0%. He felt his heart being crushed as he saw that faint light flash before Isaac's body goes limp.

His mind went blank after that. He felt his body being lifted in the air. The Lich King's laughter continues to echo in the cave.

“ _You will thank me for this._ ” he hears the Lich King announce before bright light flashes before him.

_You have perished in the land of the Crystal Utopia._

_You are not allowed to login to the game for 24 hours._

_Your experience point is also deducted 50%._

Henry opened his eyes. He is still in the virtual game capsule. His eyes are wet with tears. It was too real. Everything was too real.

‘How are these kids allowed to play such brutal game?’ he asks himself.

‘How did this game even got released? And why is it still not banned?’

‘Why are people still playing this? And why aren’t parents stopping their kids from playing this game?’ He ponders before he froze at that realization.

He then remembers his own son. He put his son inside this virtual world more than a year ago. His son must have died plenty of times in the game. Maybe even more brutally than the others he saw die in the game. His chest tightens as he feels his heart ache. He did it to his own son. Unknowingly, sentencing his son to this brutal game. He was trying to help, he is sure. But that doesn’t justify his action, right?

And Isaac. Adam. Alice. The other party. They all perished under the hands of the Lich King. Henry sighs. Now, this is really turning into a rescue mission for his son. Hopefully his son doesn’t hate him for this. He just hopes his son found friends in the game like he did.

The picture of Isaac in that red bubble flashed in his mind again. He clearly remembers the terrified look in the kid’s face. He can still feel the terror and pain from that experience. He was not able to save the boy. How could he save his son? How could he wake his son up? Would it be possible?

He got out of the virtual world capsule. He realized that he must have been inside that thing for days. He picked up his phone and look at the date.

Four days. He has been inside the virtual world for four days. He can’t believe it. If it had been that long, he could have died from starvation and dehydration. But somehow, he didn’t. He doesn’t even feel hungry, or thirsty. It is as if eating in the virtual world also affects his body in the real world. He looks down at himself and he is not hurt. Thankfully. Although, the pain he felt in the game was so real, he remained unharmed in the real world. Henry wonders what are the limits of this virtual world. How has technology advanced so much that it is capable of doing this?

Twenty-four hours. He can’t log on for 24 hours. What should he do until then? Work. Earning for food to eat seemed to be a great plan. He shakes his head. After all the ‘work’ he did in the virtual world, he still has to do it in the real world. Just so he has money to survive.

Life is tricky like that.

**Author's Note:**

> BTW, I am very much open to suggestions, comments and criticisms. Just be gentle though, I am a newbie.
> 
> And if you like it, please let me know. I want to know if people enjoy reading my work as much as I enjoy writing them.
> 
> Finally, if you prefer connecting with me in more private platform, you can do so through discord @ JannKenneth#9375 or kik @ JannKenneth
> 
> Thank you for reading.


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